EA Completes $55B Saudi-Backed Buyout and Exits Nasdaq

Electronic Arts (EA ) is officially a private company. The publisher announced on August 4, 2026 that its acquisition by an investor consortium of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners has closed, with stockholders receiving $210 in cash for each share they owned and EA’s common stock ceasing trading ahead of its delisting from Nasdaq.

The all-cash transaction values EA at an enterprise value of approximately $55 billion, a deal the parties describe as the largest all-cash sponsor take-private investment in history. The $210 per-share payout represents a 25% premium to EA’s closing price of $168.32 on September 25, 2025, the last fully unaffected trading day before the process began. The consortium entered into the definitive agreement on September 28, 2025, announcing it the following day, with PIF rolling over its existing 9.9% stake rather than cashing out.

“This moment recognizes the extraordinary people whose creativity, ambition and passion have made EA one of the world’s leading interactive entertainment companies,” said Andrew Wilson, EA’s chairman and CEO, in the completion announcement. “We’re entering this next chapter from a position of strength with partners who share our vision and ambition.”

EA stockholders approved the merger at a special meeting on December 22, 2025, and the company disclosed in a filing with US securities regulators on July 30, 2026 that all regulatory approvals required to complete the deal had been obtained. Under the merger structure, EA survives as a wholly owned subsidiary of Oak-Eagle AcquireCo, the holding company the consortium formed to execute the transaction.

For PIF, the acquisition converts a long-standing minority position into control of one of gaming’s biggest publishers. “Having been a minority investor in the company for more than five years, we have a deep understanding of EA’s unique platform, massive global sports and gaming franchises, and iconic IP,” said Turqi Alnowaiser, the fund’s deputy governor and head of international investments.

The Electronic Arts sale, by the numbers

• $55 billion – the approximate enterprise value of the all-cash transaction.
• $210 per share – the cash payout to EA stockholders, a 25% premium to the $168.32 unaffected close on September 25, 2025.
• Approximately $36 billion – the equity component from the three buyers, including the rollover of PIF’s existing 9.9% stake.
• $20 billion – the debt financing committed by JPMorgan Chase, $18 billion of which was expected to be funded at closing.
• 93.4% / 5.5% / 1.1% – the post-close ownership split for PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners set out in a November 2025 filing with Brazil’s antitrust regulator, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
• Approximately $7.5 billion – EA’s GAAP net revenue in fiscal year 2026, per the completion announcement.

How the Electronic Arts deal reached closing day

The timeline from signing to closing ran just over ten months. EA’s board approved the merger agreement by unanimous vote in September 2025, and the deal was conditioned on antitrust approvals in the US and abroad plus clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the body that reviews foreign acquisitions of American companies on national-security grounds, according to the agreement filed with regulators.

Stockholders signed off on December 22, 2025. The pendency of the deal was felt inside the company well before closing: EA reportedly cut support staff in June 2026 as the buyout moved toward completion. The European Commission cleared the transaction in July 2026, removing one of the last major regulatory obstacles, and by July 30, 2026 the company confirmed every required approval was in hand and set the closing for the end of trading on August 4, 2026. The closing landed on that date as scheduled.

Who owns Electronic Arts now, and who runs it

The ownership math reported from the Brazilian filing leaves PIF holding the overwhelming majority of EA, with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, the Miami-based investment firm founded by Jared Kushner in 2021, holding small minority positions. PIF describes gaming and esports as one of its priority sectors, tied to its mandate to diversify the Saudi economy beyond oil revenue, and it had built its 9.9% stake in EA on the public market over several years before rolling it into this deal.

Operationally, the September 2025 agreement committed to keeping EA headquartered in Redwood City, California, and led by Wilson as CEO. Wilson used closing day to reshape the team beneath him, telling employees he would partner with Cam Weber as president and chief studios officer and David Tinson as president and chief operating officer, two executives he credited with leading EA through what he called some of its most transformative moments.

The publisher of EA Sports FC, Madden NFL, The Sims, Battlefield, and Apex Legends now answers to owners who paid $210 a share to take it off the public market, with the same CEO, the same headquarters, and a new pair of presidents running the studios and the business underneath him.