EA has now officially gone private, with its $55 billion acquisition by Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund, Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, and Silver Lake now closed. And, after all that, there's reportedly already the threat of mass layoffs looming.
Plans for the big buyout were first outlined last year, at which point it was revealed that the transaction would be partly funded by EA taking on a whopping $20 billion in debt – "$18 billion of which is expected to be funded at close." The acquisition plans, in general, already had some employees and studio veterans concerned about potential layoffs to follow – after all, we saw that same thing happen with Activision Blizzard after its buyout by Microsoft – and, according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, that's now looking even more likely.
Schreier posts on Bluesky that EA taking on $18 billion in debt means it's "putting it on the hook to pay ~$1.8 billion/year in interest," making it an even more daunting figure. Right now, he adds, EA's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) fall around $1.5 billion – a number that "should be enough to service the interest payments."
However, Schreier continues," the publisher has told debt investors that it will cut $700 million in annual costs including $170 million in 'organizational efficiencies,' per Bloomberg. In other words: mass layoffs."
EA's annual Ebitda is around $1.5 billion, which should be enough to service the interest payments. But the publisher has told debt investors that it will cut $700 million in annual costs including $170 million in "organizational efficiencies," per Bloomberg. In other words: mass layoffs
— @jasonschreier.bsky.social (@jasonschreier.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-08-05T13:36:04.643Z
Following the announcement of EA's acquisition plans last year, the publisher had directly addressed whether the private ownership would "lead to layoffs," to which it provided perhaps the least reassuring answer. "There will be no immediate changes to your job, team, or daily work, as a result of this transaction," it said at the time, with no indication of what its definition of "immediate" was.
Despite this, EA CEO Andrew Wilson now says in a statement that "we're entering this next chapter from a position of strength," and that with its new partners, "we'll invest boldly, accelerate innovation, and build the next generation of games and experiences."
It was reported last year that EA's new investors were hoping that AI could be used to help reduce the company's operating costs to manage its shiny new debt, though at the time it wasn't clear what exactly it'd be used for, but the prospect of it wheedling its way into game development and potentially replacing real workers was obviously a concern.
In April, Wilson said that around 85% of the company's quality assurance work now uses AI, but he claimed that "we hire more QA people than we ever have," with humans required to analyze the findings of the AI. Regardless, it's understandable that there's a lot of unease and uncertainty from fans looking at the situation from the outside right now.
