Assuming regulatory authorities give their approval, Saudi Arabia will hold more than 90% of the publisher’s shares.
The process of converting Electronic Arts into a private company and selling it to a consortium of investors, including the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Jared Kushner’s company Silver Lake, has cleared its first hurdle. As Stephen Totilo of Game File writes, Electronic Arts shareholders have voted to sell EA to the consortium. However, the private acquisition still requires government regulatory approval, which, considering that Electronic Arts announced the sale in September and shareholders approved it before the end of 2025, could take several months.
This is especially true given that government regulators around the world have been paying closer attention to the gaming industry following a major acquisition in the industry. It is therefore conceivable that Electronic Arts’ deal will also come under greater scrutiny from global regulators. U.S. senators have already voiced their concerns in letters to the Treasury Secretary, arguing that the sale could allow the Saudi government to exert influence through Electronic Arts. This would give the authoritarian regime an effective tool to extend its power worldwide. The letter urges the committee to thoroughly examine this unprecedented proposal to privatize a major American technology and entertainment company to a foreign entity.
Concerns about the deal are not limited to the United States. CWA Canada has asked Canadian competition authorities to thoroughly investigate the deal due to concerns raised about Canadian developers employed by Electronic Arts’ Canadian studios, including Motive, EA Vancouver, and BioWare. While U.S. senators expressed concerns about foreign influence in their letter to the Treasury Secretary, CWA Canada addressed job losses and layoffs resulting from the transaction in its letter to the Canadian competition authority.
“The transaction could also lead to job losses in Canadian labor markets. Although EA has publicly stated that the deal will not result in immediate layoffs, some analysts suggest that layoffs are one of the key ways the company will cut costs to service its massive debt, which is financed with US$20 billion in debt. Layoffs could further consolidate and concentrate existing labor markets for video game workers in Canada. Our concerns are compounded by the company’s history of recent layoffs: Electronic Arts has laid off over 1,700 workers since 2023,” reads the letter from CWA Canada.
Similar to the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard King deal, we will probably hear about this deal for well over a year before it is finalized, if it happens at all. If it does, Saudi Arabia’s PIF will own 93.4% of Electronic Arts, and the other consortium investors will compete for the remaining 6.6%. If not, everything will remain as it is.
Source: WCCFTech, Bsky, Senate, CWA Canada
