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EA’s $55 Billion Sale Could Help Company Take Riskier Bets, But Not Soon, Expert Says

In: Gaming, News

EA is in the process of selling itself to an investor consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to the tune of $55 billion. Should the sale go through, it would likely result in cutbacks, possible layoffs, and EA selling “non-essential assets,” according to DFC Intelligence. There could be upsides, too, DFC Intelligence president David Cole said in a new interview.

He told Polygon that, if the deal happens and on a long-term basis, the EA sale could allow the company to “focus on more creative, risky ventures.”

This is because, Cole said, EA would no longer be a public company and would not be beholden to the mission of driving up the stock price and focusing more on safer bets. However, in the short term, that’s exactly what Cole predicts will happen. “Short term, we expect them to focus more on core money generators and look to get top dollar for ‘secondary’ IP/products,” he said.

The EA sale to the PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners includes $20 billion in debt for EA, and many experts have theorized that EA will implement a cost-reduction plan to pay it off. That remains to be seen, and nothing is happening just yet anyway as the deal has not closed and is not expected to until 2026.

The $55 billion take-private deal is the largest leveraged buyout (LBO) of all time. The previous record was established in 2007 when a private equity consortium paid $32 billion to buy the Texas utility company TXU.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson has said he is staying on with EA, at least for now. He’s also reportedly in the mix to become The Walt Disney Company’s next CEO, though a recent report said he’s not one of the two finalists for the job.

The PIF has attracted significant controversy in part due to its chairman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. One of the most powerful people in Saudi Arabia and the de facto ruler of the kingdom, he’s now widely considered to be responsible for the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The kingdom has been accused of a wide range of human rights violations, as well.

Affinity Partners, meanwhile, is led by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The other buyer is the investment firm Silver Lake.

For more, check out a breakdown of what’s included with the $55 billion sale.