Electronic Arts (EA), known for EA Sports FC and The Sims, has agreed to its sale to a group of private investors for $55 billion, making it the largest leveraged buyout on record.
The investors include a Saudi Arabian state entity, a company run by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners.
The sale comes during a period of moderate industry expansion, after the pandemic boom that fueled unprecedented growth in gaming sales.
A leveraged buyout is the acquisition of a company using borrowed funds to finance the purchase.
EA went public seven years after it was founded by former Apple employee William “Trip” Hawkins, who as a teenager in the 1960s spent hours playing analog versions of baseball and football by Strat-O-Matic.
The company has been led by Andrew Wilson since 2013, and he will remain in his role, the firms announced Monday. Electronic Arts will now become a private company, while its headquarters will remain in Redwood City, California.
Jared Kushner, CEO of Affinity Partners, commented: “I admire EA’s ability to create iconic, timeless experiences. As someone who grew up playing its games and now enjoys them with my children, I could not be more excited about the future.”
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