Electronic Arts is in “advanced talks” to potentially go private, getting acquired by a handful of investors, namely Affinity Partners, Silver Lake Partners, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The reported buyout is standing at $50 billion.
Wall Street Journal reports (via VGC) the news, which caused a 15% spike in shares. Should the deal go through, this would be a huge acquisition, as like it or not, EA is a gaming giant. Now, the biggest name interested in the buyout is by far Saudi Arabia’s PIF, which is the country’s official investment fund into the gaming scene as a bid to make itself less reliant on oil.
Beyond EA, PIF already has made investments in many publicly traded game studios, including Take-Two Interactive and Ubisoft. Ubisoft is even making a DLC for Assassin’s Creed Mirage set in Saudi Arabia as part of PIF’s investment.
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