When EA announced its departure from the stock exchange, the deal was presented as a standard buyout: a consortium of three investors was to buy out the company for $55 billion.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the main financing will be provided by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which, after the deal closes, will receive 93.4% of Electronic Arts shares. Silver Lake and Affinity Partners will receive 5.5% and 1.1%, but PIF also has significant stakes in these companies. On paper it's a consortium, but control will completely pass to PIF if the deal is approved by regulators and shareholders.
According to documents filed with the Brazilian antitrust authority, out of $55 billion, $36.4 billion will be own funds, and another $20 billion will be borrowed. WSJ estimates that PIF actually invested about $29 billion, taking into account the EA shares it already owns — an amount unattainable for other participants in the deal.
PIF has been actively buying stakes in gaming companies for many years — from Take-Two and Capcom to Nexon and Nintendo. But the almost complete buyout of EA is a step of a different scale. In October, EA CEO Andrew Wilson assured that "EA's values and commitments to players will remain unchanged." But it is difficult to ignore the influence of an investor who finances the entire takeover.
