EA will be acquired by a consortium including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, alongside US-based investment firms Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. This much we already know.
However, an exclusive report from the Wall Street Journal (paywalled) reveals just how much each company will be contributing to the deal, with the PIF said to own 93.4% of the publisher once the deal closes. Silver Lake and Affinity Partners will take 5.5% and 1.1% stakes respectively.
That would make PIF pretty much the primary owner of the organisation, which is valued at $55 billion.
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In order to fund the takeover, the consortium has raised $36.4 billion in equity and will borrow the rest of the money, putting roughly $20 billion of debt against the Mass Effect and Madden maker. To make matters even more complicated, the PIF is already an investor in both Silver Lake and Affinity Partners.
Despite its notoriously deep pockets, the PIF is said to be stretched at the moment, after committing to several outrageously expensive projects, like a futuristic city named Neom and the creation of multiple stadiums for the 2034 World Cup.
While it still has hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign investments to call upon, none of this sounds like particularly positive news for EA, who will presumably have to shoulder much of the debt for the privilege of being bought out.
Expect the publisher to double down on its most successful brands and look for ways to cut costs and increase profits.