Who are EA's new owners?

Games publishing giant EA has been acquired in a $55 billion deal by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners in an all-cash deal.

The purchase will see the group buy up 100% of the company’s shares and take it private.

EA has been a key name in the sector for decades, owning franchises including EA Sports FC, The Sims, Battlefield, Dragon Age and Apex Legends.

So who are the buyers that will now own one of the games industry’s most prominent companies?

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund

The Public Investment fund is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund that has cut deals around the world across business sectors as the country looks to diversify its economy as part of its Vision 2030 strategy. The fund is said to have assets worth approximately $1 trillion. Its chairman is Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s crown prince and de-facto ruler.

Its sports dealings include the £300 million takeover of British football club Newcastle United and the establishment of LIV Golf - which later merged its commercial businesses with the PGA Tour. 

PIF’s investments have courted controversy around claims of sportswashing to deflect attention away from its human rights record and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which US intelligence claims was ordered by the crown prince, which he denies.

In games, PIF has acquired a number of games stocks in the past, including EA, Embracer Group, Nexon, Capcom, Take-Two, and Nintendo. It also opened up its own games company called Savvy Games Group to help build up Saudi Arabia’s games industry. The group was given $37.8bn to spend on games M&A.

Savvy’s acquisitions in the games space include the ESL and FaceIt for a combined $1.5 billion and Scopely for $4.9bn. Earlier this year, the Monopoly Go developer purchased Niantic’s games business, including Pokémon Go, with Savvy’s financial backing, for $3.5 billion. Savvy also has its own internal development team, Steer Studios, which recently tapped the Tom & Jerry licence for a new mobile game.

Savvy CEO Brian Ward told PocketGamer.biz earlier this year of its intention to make a move in the PC and console space, but it had yet to land on anything “super compelling and that would be a good fit for us”.

In EA’s announcement of the $55 billion buyout, Savvy’s name was not mentioned. It’s worth noting that PIF’s game stocks were previously transferred to Savvy.

Affinity Partners

Affinity Partners is a US private equity firm that was founded by US president Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former advisor Jared Kushner.

The company says it has over $5.4 billion under management and a team of more than 30 staff, focused on growth equity, financial services and technology investments at scale. 

In 2023, Affinity Partners received $2 billion in investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

Affinity Partners has other ties with Saudi Arabia. It previously invested in UK-based digital bank OakNorth, which raised a $440m investment round from SoftBank’s Vision Fund - a VC fund that has received major backing from Saudi Arabia.

Kushner was previously an advisor to the White House and helped negotiate a $100 billion arms-deal between the US and Saudi Arabia during the first Trump administration.

Last year, The Guardian reported an inquiry launched by the Democrat-led Senate finance committee looked into Affinity Partners’ dealings and claimed that, at the time, it had taken $157 million in fees since 2021 without returning any profit to investors.

Silver Lake

Silver Lake is a US investment is a US-based private equity firm set up in 1999 that has a broad range of investments around the world.

It previously joined Sequoia Capital in investing $1 billion in game engine maker Unity in 2022. Recently, it was reported to be an acquirer for TikTok in the US as part of a Trump-approved consortium of buyers that also included MGX, the Murdoch family and Oracle.

Other past tech investments include Klarna, Jio, Twitter, Airbnb, Dell, Alibaba, and more.

What does it all mean?

Ahead of the expected announcement, industry analysts offered their opinions on the deal. Gossamer Consulting Group principal Eric Kress speculated, based on the reports, that the deal seems Saudi-driven, with Silver Lake “acting as the face”.

“On their own, Silver Lake wouldn’t take on this kind of risk and the Saudis would have a tough time with regulatory scrutiny without a partner,” he wrote.

He added: “The major assumption is that Saudis are driving this deal and that typical private-equity discipline likely won't apply. This is fundamentally a Saudi strategic acquisition. Once the final structure is disclosed, that dynamic will become more or less obvious.”

Speaking to PocketGamer.biz, Ampere Analysis' senior research manager for games Louise Wooldridge said the deal would "transform Saudi's PIF into one of the largest global games publishers, plus it accelerates the import of talent into the KSA."

"This deal also strengthens Saudi Arabia's soft power in sports and esports in the build up to the 2034 World Cup (which is set to be hosted by the KSA)," she said.