EU Approves Saudi Arabia’s $55 Billion EA Acquisition — Largest Leveraged Buyout in History Clears Major Hurdle

The European Commission has formally approved the $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), alongside private equity firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. The decision, announced on July 23, 2026, clears one of the last major regulatory hurdles standing between the deal and its completion — and moves what would be the largest leveraged buyout in history significantly closer to the finish line.

What the EU Actually Approved

The European Commission reviewed the acquisition under its standard EU Merger Regulation procedure and concluded the deal raised no competition concerns. In its official bulletin, the Commission stated the transaction “relates primarily to the production and distribution of video games for mobile devices, PCs and consoles, as well as the organization and commercialisation of video game competitions” — and that the proposed acquisition would have a “limited impact on competition in the markets where the companies are active.”

In plain terms: the Commission looked at whether a Saudi Arabia-led entity owning EA would harm competition in the European video games market and concluded it wouldn’t. The approval was granted under the normal merger review procedure with no conditions attached.

There is, however, a separate track still in motion. The EU is also reviewing the deal under its Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) — a newer framework designed to prevent companies backed by non-EU government subsidies from acquiring European market participants on unfair terms. That review is considered the more significant potential obstacle, but Reuters reported last week that PIF is expected to clear the FSR review as well. No timeline for that decision has been officially confirmed.

The Full Deal Structure

The acquisition was first announced in September 2025 and is structured as an all-cash take-private transaction. Here’s what that means in practice:

• EA shareholders receive $210 per share — a 25% premium over EA’s closing price of $168.50 on September 25, 2025, the day before the deal was announced
• PIF is rolling over its existing 9.9% stake in EA rather than cashing it out, meaning it already had skin in the game before this deal
• Upon completion, PIF will hold approximately 93.4% of EA, with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners holding the remainder
• EA will be delisted from public markets (NASDAQ: EA) and continue operating as a private company under current CEO Andrew Wilson from its California headquarters
• Deal completion is expected in Q1 2027 — around January to March next year

EA shareholders approved the deal in December 2025, removing the internal obstacle. The EU merger clearance now removes the European regulatory one.

What Remains Before the Deal Closes

With EU merger approval secured, the remaining significant hurdle is in the United States. Because Saudi Arabia — a foreign government-linked entity — is involved, the deal requires review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which examines acquisitions of US companies by foreign entities for national security concerns.

Several US politicians have already urged the Federal Trade Commission to scrutinize the deal heavily. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) union filed a formal petition against the acquisition last October and subsequently wrote directly to the FTC asking for its intervention. Whether CFIUS or the FTC ultimately blocks or conditions the deal remains the central open question.

The EU’s FSR review is also still pending, though expectations lean toward clearance there as well.

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Why This Deal Has Been So Controversial

The $55 billion price tag alone makes this the largest leveraged buyout — meaning an acquisition funded primarily through borrowed debt — in history, surpassing the previous record set by the $45 billion KKR buyout of RJR Nabisco in 1989. That headline number would be remarkable in any context.

But the controversy surrounding this deal runs deeper than its size. Several threads have made it one of the most politically charged corporate acquisitions in gaming history:

Saudi Arabia’s Broader Gaming Acquisitions

PIF has been aggressively expanding its footprint in the global video games industry since 2022. It holds minority stakes in virtually every major publicly traded gaming publisher — including Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive, Activision Blizzard, and Nexon — and has made outright purchases of companies including ESL, FACEIT, and mobile publisher Scopely. The EA deal, at $55 billion, would dwarf all of those combined by a considerable margin and give PIF direct operational control over one of the industry’s largest publishers.

Human Rights Concerns and Sportswashing Accusations

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chairs PIF. The Crown Prince has been subject to ongoing international scrutiny over alleged links to the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as Saudi Arabia’s documented human rights record. Human Rights Watch and other organisations have characterised Saudi Arabia’s wave of acquisitions in sports, gaming, and entertainment as “sportswashing” — a strategy of using high-profile investments to improve the kingdom’s international image and deflect from its human rights record.

Jared Kushner’s Involvement

Affinity Partners, the third consortium member, is run by Jared Kushner — US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Affinity received a $2 billion investment from PIF in 2022, shortly after Kushner left the White House. His involvement in the EA deal has drawn additional political scrutiny, particularly regarding the relationship between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia’s investment activities.

Industry Union Opposition

The Communications Workers of America, which represents workers across the tech and gaming sectors, formally petitioned regulators to block the deal in October 2025. The union’s concerns centred on what happens to EA’s workforce under private equity ownership — historically, leveraged buyouts funded by heavy debt loads have led to cost-cutting measures including layoffs, which the CWA argued could harm the workers whose labour makes the company’s franchises valuable in the first place.

What EA Owns — and Why $55 Billion Makes Sense to PIF

EA’s portfolio of IP is what makes this deal worth its staggering price to a sovereign wealth fund with a stated goal of dominating the global gaming sector. The company’s franchises include EA Sports FC (the world’s best-selling annual sports game), Madden NFL, The Sims, Apex Legends, Battlefield, Need for Speed, and Dragon Age. It also operates one of the largest sports simulation licensing businesses in entertainment, with deals covering FIFA, the NFL, NHL, and NBA, among others.

PIF’s stated ambition through its Savvy Games Group arm is to make Saudi Arabia a global hub for gaming and esports. Owning EA outright — rather than holding a minority stake — gives PIF direct control over how those franchises are developed, distributed, and monetised for the foreseeable future.

For more on the wider picture of what’s happening across the gaming industry right now, check out our reporting on the Rockstar Game Workers Union pushing for formal recognition ahead of GTA 6’s November launch, and the Circana June 2026 US gaming spending report that puts the commercial context for these deals in perspective.