Billion-dollar takeover completed: Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund acquires EA
The $55 billion sale of Electronic Arts has been completed. Led by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund PIF, the gaming giant is being taken off the stock market.
In September 2025, Electronic Arts (EA), one of the world's largest game publishers and developers, announced its acquisition by a consortium of investors. Now, the $55 billion deal has been finalized, as the company announced. This is equivalent to approximately 48 billion euros or 44 billion Swiss francs.
EA shareholders had already approved the acquisition in December 2025. Now, the step has been completed. With the closing of the transaction, EA stock was delisted from Nasdaq, and shareholders will receive $210 per share. EA is thus no longer a publicly traded company.
PIF leads investor consortium
According to information released at the time of the announcement, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) is expected to hold 93.4 percent of the consortium's shares. PIF had previously been a minority investor for five years. The fund is chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Turqi Alnowaiser, head of international investments at PIF, emphasizes that entertainment and sports are among the sovereign wealth fund's strategic investment priorities.
The remaining seven percent are distributed between the two companies Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. Affinity Partners was founded in 2021 by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. Affinity Partners' share is only 1.1 percent.
Andrew Wilson remains CEO of EA, and the company's headquarters remain in Redwood City, California. So far, the parties involved have not communicated whether and how the acquisition will affect well-known EA brands such as "EA Sports FC", "Battlefield", and "The Sims". There are no indications of studio closures or restructurings. For players, little is likely to change in the short term.
It is also unknown how the investor consortium will manage the company and how much operational influence its members will have.
The consortium plans to invest heavily in AI
The closing announcement provides the first concrete indications of the new owners' plans for EA. The clear focus on Artificial Intelligence is striking. Silver Lake CEO Egon Durban stated that the consortium intends to invest heavily in EA's continued growth, explicitly including the use of AI to "enhance game development and player experience."
This could have far-reaching consequences for the gaming industry. The use of generative AI regularly sparks discussions in the games industry. However, for the consortium, the advantages of using AI apparently outweigh the disadvantages. The fact that the new owners highlight this topic immediately after the acquisition indicates that corresponding investments will play a central role within the group in the coming years. However, concrete projects or product announcements have not yet been made.
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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