Electronic Arts is lined up to go private in what could be Wall Street's largest leveraged buyout in history from Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners finalising the takeover, which could drop as early as next week.
Shares in the gaming giant rocketed 15% on Friday when news broke, and at around US$50 billion, this smashes TXU Energy's previous go-private record from 2007 and values EA at a chunky premium to its current US$43 billion market cap.
But why are these financial heavyweights throwing such serious coin at a video game outfit? Maybe it's because EA isn't just selling titles, it's providing a huge income-generating subscription service too.
Top titles such as FIFA, Madden NFL, and The Sims are played by millions of punters that happily pay for the privilege year after year, with the company banking US$7.58 billion in FY 2025 takings at a steady 3% growth.
Publishers now trade at 13.8x EBITDA multiples, while mobile developers languish at 4.7x.
The buyers
Global equity fund Silver Lake knows tech acquisitions inside out (they took Dell private) and Saudi Arabia's PIF is diversifying beyond oil at breakneck speed, having already dropped US$4.9 billion on Scopely last year.
If the deal goes through, there'd be no more having to explain to analysts why Battlefield 6's development timeline shifted or justifying long-term engine investments that squeeze margins.
Buyout shops such as these funds have pumped over US$21 billion into 68 sector transactions since 2018, chasing exactly these kinds of franchise-driven cash machines.
Seven plays topped >$100 million in enterprise value during 2024 alone, and with Nintendo Switch 2 and Grand Theft Auto 6 dropping this year, private equity may increase in the gaming industry battlefield into 2026.
