A Group of buyers including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has completed the purchase of gaming company, Electronic Arts, for a whopping $55bn (£41bn).
The American video game company, with its headquarters in the City of Redwood, California, is widely known for producing and publishing top-selling games such as EA FC, formerly known as Fifa, The Sims and Mass Effect.
According to BBC:
The investors, who include Affinity Partners – led by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner – are taking EA private, meaning all of its public shares will be purchased and it will no longer be traded on a stock exchange.
The deal caused concern amongst some fans of EA’s massive library of games, particularly as games like The Sims champion inclusivity and LGBT+ relationships.
In Saudi Arabia, consensual same-sex sexual conduct can be punishable by death or flogging under interpretations of Sharia law.
The move is thought to be largest leveraged acquisition in history, this means a massive part of it is paid for with money that is borrowed, which the company will have to pay back.
How paying back the borrowed money will affect EA as an Outfit has been the source of much guesswork from analysts and journalists.
Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, American Media Company, speculated, it could lead to “mass layoffs, more aggressive monetization, and other big cost-cutting measures”, for one of the industry’s biggest companies.
Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Game Business, Christopher Dring, said, the nature of the acquisition was also likely to mean “a very hands-on approach from the investment group”.
He added, “Private equity firms are typically aggressive in their management of companies”.
