Jared Kushner and Saudi PIF Acquire Electronic Arts in Record $55 Billion Buyout

Published Aug 5, 03:15 PM UTC

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, alongside Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, closed a $55 billion leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts (EA) on Tuesday. Shareholders received $210 per share in cash, ending EA's 36-year public trading run. The deal is the largest leveraged buyout in history, surpassing the 2007 TXU buyout that ended in bankruptcy. PIF borrowed $20 billion from JPMorgan, which also advised on the deal. Kushner, whose fund was seeded with $2 billion by PIF in 2021, reportedly brokered the introduction. EA generated about $7.5 billion in revenue last fiscal year but now carries significant debt, leading analysts to predict increased monetization through ads and microtransactions rather than innovative new games.