After 35 years as a publicly traded company, Electronic Arts is about to disappear from the stock market.
EA confirmed in an SEC filing on July 30 that every regulatory approval needed to complete its $55 billion buyout has been secured, and the deal is expected to close at the end of trading on Tuesday, August 4, 2026. It's the largest leveraged buyout in video game history.
Who's buying
The buyer is a consortium of three: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, the fund led by Jared Kushner. Per a filing with Brazil's antitrust regulator, PIF will end up holding roughly 93.4% of the newly private EA, with Silver Lake at about 5.5% and Affinity at roughly 1.1%. PIF already owned close to 10% of EA and is rolling that stake into the deal.
Shareholders are getting $210 per share in cash.
What stays the same
On paper, not much changes day to day. Andrew Wilson remains CEO and the headquarters will stay in Redwood City, California. The franchise slate, including Battlefield, EA Sports FC, Madden, College Football, The Sims, Apex Legends, Skate, and Need for Speed, continues under the same leadership.
What people are watching
The deal was first announced in September 2025 and drew immediate pushback from labor groups and U.S. politicians, over both the Saudi state ownership and Kushner's involvement. EA originally targeted a June 30 close; regulatory review pushed it back about a month, with European Commission clearance arriving in late July.
The bigger open questions are financial and creative. A buyout this size loads the company with substantial debt, and EA has already gone through repeated rounds of layoffs, including cuts at Battlefield Studios shortly after Battlefield 6 launched. Critics have also raised concerns about whether a Saudi-controlled owner might influence the content of games like The Sims.
None of that gets answered on August 4. But that's the date the clock starts.
.png)
