PIF nears EU approval for $55 billion EA acquisition

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is moving closer to closing its 55 billion dollar acquisition of Electronic Arts, with European regulators now the last major hurdle standing between the consortium and one of the largest buyouts in corporate history. The deal, first announced back in September 2025, would see PIF team up with private equity firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners to take the video game publisher fully private in an all cash transaction that values the company at roughly 55 billion dollars in enterprise value. Under the terms of the agreement, shareholders are set to receive 210 dollars per share, a premium of about 25 percent over EA's unaffected trading price before news of the deal first leaked. PIF is rolling its existing 9.9 percent stake in EA into the transaction and will end up with sole control of the company once the deal closes, while Silver Lake and Affinity Partners take on non controlling stakes alongside it. The math behind the deal breaks down to roughly 36 billion dollars in equity from the consortium and around 20 billion dollars in debt financing, with JPMorgan Chase Bank committing the full debt package. Taken together, the structure makes this the largest all cash leveraged buyout ever recorded, surpassing the 45 billion dollar TXU buyout from 2007 that had held the record for nearly two decades. The path to closing has not been entirely smooth. EA shareholders approved the deal back in December 2025, and it cleared Hart Scott Rodino antitrust review in the United States by June 2026, removing one of the biggest domestic regulatory risks. But the transaction then missed its original outside date of June 30, 2026, and the parties agreed to push that deadline out to September 28, 2026 while the deal awaits clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the national security review body that scrutinizes foreign involvement in deals touching sensitive American assets. A one billion dollar reverse break fee sits on both sides of the agreement, a detail that suggests neither side has much appetite to walk away purely over timing. On the European side, the consortium has been working through a parallel track. PIF filed for both antitrust and subsidy clearance from the European Commission, which set a July 22 deadline to decide whether to approve the deal outright or open a more detailed investigation, alongside a separate July 30 deadline on the subsidy component tied to the EU's foreign subsidies regulation. Recent reporting suggests the consortium is close to securing that EU approval, another step that would clear the way toward a final close sometime in the back half of 2026. For the Gulf region, this deal is less a one off transaction and more the crown jewel of a years long campaign. PIF has been building its gaming footprint since 2021 through its subsidiary Savvy Games Group, which has deployed close to 38 billion dollars across the industry, acquiring stakes in major publishers and esports properties along the way. Landing full control of EA, the studio behind franchises like EA Sports FC, The Sims, and Apex Legends, would give Saudi Arabia a direct anchor asset in global interactive entertainment, reinforcing Riyadh's broader Vision 2030 push to position itself as a serious hub for gaming and esports rather than just a market for consuming foreign made games. It also puts the kingdom in direct comparison with the UAE, which has leaned more toward esports events, streaming infrastructure, and hosting major tournaments rather than owning publishers outright, meaning this deal effectively cements Saudi Arabia's lead in the race to control upstream gaming assets across the Gulf. PIF officials have framed the acquisition as a platform for driving EA's long term growth while EA itself is expected to keep operating out of its California headquarters under existing leadership, with day to day game development and live services continuing largely unaffected through the transition.