EA, the publisher of Dragon Age, The Sims, Madden, and Battlefield, has been acquired in a $55 billion deal.
The announcement came today after rumors of the deal surfaced last week. That report claimed that the deal was likely to be made soon, confirming the involvement of private equity firm Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund in the purchase, which will reestablish EA as a private company. CEO Andrew Wilson will remain in his role, with the deal expected to close in Q1 of the 2027 financial year, assuming it's approved by regulators and stockholders.
The latter are particularly likely to be pleased, as the $55 billion figure is higher than expected, with last week's report suggesting that the company's market value was "around $43 billion," and the suggestion of a $50 billion fee being floated. Shareholders will receive $210 per share, up significantly from both the company's most recent share price of just under $170, as well as its all-time high of just under $180, which it achieved in August 2025.
EA is the holder of several major franchises, but there's little word as to what's likely to happen to any of them. In a press release, Wilson confirmed that the company "will continue to push the boundaries of entertainment, sports, and technology," but there's no mention of any specific titles or IP.
This is the latest in a string of high-profile acquisitions made over the last decade. The most recent of those was Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard. That complex purchase kicked off a long and difficult legal battle that brought Xbox up in front of multiple trade bodies around the world, but it eventually went through - before the company was hit with multiple rounds of layoffs that gutted teams and canceled games. These private investors are potentially less likely to be quite as bloodthirsty as Microsoft has proved to be, but nothing's certain.
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