EA Is Now Privately Owned After a Record $55 Billion Buyout What It Means for Players

Electronic Arts is no longer a publicly traded company. On August 4, 2026, the $55 billion acquisition of EA by a consortium made up of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), private equity firm Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners closed after clearing regulatory approval in July. It’s the largest all-cash leveraged buyout in corporate history, beating the previous record — the $32 billion TXU Energy buyout from 2007 — by a wide margin.

The deal was first announced back in September 2025 and approved by EA shareholders that December, so this has been a long time coming. Under the terms, EA stockholders received $210 in cash per share, a 25% premium over EA’s trading price before the deal was announced. The stock has now stopped trading and is delisted from the Nasdaq entirely.

Ownership breaks down like this: PIF holds 93.4% of the company, Silver Lake holds 5.5%, and Affinity Partners holds 1.1%. That last name might ring a bell — Affinity Partners was founded in 2021 by Jared Kushner, and this deal puts him directly in EA’s ownership structure. Silver Lake, meanwhile, also holds a stake in the venture now overseeing TikTok’s U.S. operations, so this isn’t its first high-profile deal this cycle.

So what does this actually mean for the studio behind EA Sports FC, Battlefield, The Sims, and Apex Legends? EA CEO Andrew Wilson framed it as entering a new phase with partners who’ll “invest boldly” and “accelerate innovation.” Silver Lake’s CEO Egon Durban was more specific about where some of that investment is headed, pointing directly at AI’s role in game development and player experience going forward — worth watching closely given how much debate AI-assisted development has already stirred in the industry.

Going private also means EA no longer has to answer to quarterly earnings calls or public shareholders, which theoretically gives the new ownership more room for long-term bets without Wall Street looking over their shoulder every three months. Whether that translates into better games or just more aggressive monetization is the real open question, and it’s one the buyout itself doesn’t answer either way.

It’s also worth noting this isn’t Saudi Arabia’s only foothold in gaming — PIF and its related funds already hold stakes in Nintendo, Capcom, Take-Two, SNK, and Scopely, making EA the largest and most direct acquisition yet in a broader pattern of investment across the industry. That pattern has drawn its own scrutiny, with human rights organizations like Amnesty International continuing to raise concerns about Saudi Arabia’s record — criticism that’s followed each of these gaming investments as they’ve piled up.

For now, nothing changes on the surface — EA Sports FC 26, the next Battlefield, and everything else already in the pipeline ships as planned. The real test is what EA looks like a year or two from now, once the new ownership actually starts making decisions instead of just closing paperwork.