The well-known video game publisher Electronic Arts may be about to become a private entity. The company is known for its empire of sports games that release every year and AAA blockbusters, and according to a new report, it is about to become the biggest leveraged buyout of all time.
The report lands from the Wall Street Journal, with sources speaking to the publication saying that investors include Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Silver Lake, one of the largest existing private-equity firms. Per the report, the deal is slated to be in the range of $50 billion, beating out the $31.8 billion leveraged buyout deal from 2007 involving the Texas power company TXU.
While no official information about a deal has come forth from any company yet, the report says that an announcement might be made by the start of next week. When the story originally broke, EA"s market value sat at around $43 billion, but it has already jumped 15% since then as the report gains momentum.
EA originally went public in 1990 following its 1982 founding. Currently led by CEO Andrew Wilson, the company is known for its ever-popular sports games like EA SPORTS FC (formerly FIFA), Madden NFL, and NHL. Outside of them, The Sims, Apex Legends, Mass Effect, Need for Speed, and Battlefield are also a part of the major publisher.
For those that may find the PIF a familiar name, the Saudi Arabian entity has been buying into the biggest gaming companies in the world for years now. At the moment it already owns parts of EA, Nintendo, Capcom, Nexon, and others, with its Savvy Games Group arm even purchasing Niantic"s complete games library and developers, which includes Pokemon GO, earlier this year.
As always, take reports like this with a grain of salt until something official is announced by an involved entity.