Report: EA in talks to go private at $50bn valuation

• EA could announce deal to go private as soon as next week.
• Shares in the publisher have jumped as high as 13.5% on the news.
• Saudi Arabia’s PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners reported to be parties involved in discussions.
• Deal would mark one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history.

Games publishing giant EA is in advanced talks to go private in a deal valuing the company at $50 billion, according to a report.

Reuters claimed sources “familiar with the matter” said a deal could be announced as soon as next week. Companies involved are reported to include private equity firm Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners.

Shares in the company rose as high as 13.5% on the news. The publisher currently has a market cap of $48.3 billion.

The deal would mark one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history.

EA is known for top games franchises such as EA Sports FC, The Sims, Battlefield, Dragon Age and Apex Legends.

Restructure and refocus

EA has laid off a number of staff over the past couple of years as it deals with industry headwinds and refocused its portfolio on its owned-IP. Earlier this year 100 staff were reportedly cut at Apex Legends developer Respawn, with a further 200 to 300 more employees made redundant across the company.

Last year the publisher said it would lay off 5% of its staff and close offices as part of a restructuring plan that would cost $125m to $165m.

The publisher said it was refocusing on “strategic priorities and growth initiatives”. As part of that, it would be shutting down games and moving away from the development of future licensed IP that “we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry”.

EA has shut down a number of mobile games in its portfolio during the same time period, including EA Sports FC Empires, MLB Tap Sports Baseball, F1 Mobile Racing, EA Sports UFC Mobile 2, Kim Kardashian Hollywood, and The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-Earth.

In October last year the publisher also announced a “major overhaul” of Plants. Vs Zombies 3 as it shut down the game’s servers.

Last year, EA’s mobile division was restructured to combine it with the HD franchise team under singular leadership across EA Sports FC, Madden NFL and The Sims.

To date, its most successful mobile game has been Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, which has generated an estimated $1.5 billion. Other top mobile titles in its portfolio include Golf Clash, EA Sports FC, Mobile, SimCity BuildIt and The Sims FreePlay.

Buyer profiles

One of the reported buyers, Saudi Arabia’s PIF, has made significant investments in games.

Under the Savvy Games Group banner, the company has acquired mobile game developers Scopely and Niantic in multi-billion dollar deals. Savvy also owns shares in Nintendo, Capcom, and EA.

Silver Lake has previous experience in games, investing $1 billion into game engine maker Unity, along with Sequoia Capital, in 2022.