Digital Arts says it’s secured all regulatory approval for its acquisition deal which is able to see Saudi Arabia proudly owning the lion’s share of the corporate.
EA confirmed in September 2025 that it was to be acquired by a gaggle of personal traders, together with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund (PIF), in a deal valuing the corporate at round $55 billion.
Now, in an SEC submitting printed on Thursday, EA says the deal has handed regulatory scrutiny and might now go forward, which it expects will occur subsequent week.
“As of July 30, 2026, all regulatory approvals required to finish the Merger have been obtained,” the submitting reads. “Digital Arts presently expects the Merger to shut on or concerning the shut of buying and selling on August 4, 2026.
“Completion of the Merger stays topic to the satisfaction or waiver of the remaining customary closing situations set forth within the Merger Settlement.”
When accomplished, the deal would be the largest ever leveraged buyout in historical past (a leveraged buyout is an acquisition the place a lot of the price is roofed by borrowed cash, with the goal firm’s personal belongings and future money circulation used as safety to pay again the mortgage).
The acquisition will see EA going non-public once more, after going public on the NASDAQ inventory trade 36 years in the past in March 1990. It is going to see the corporate being totally owned by “an investor consortium comprised of PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Companions”.
Saudi Arabia will personal 93.4% of EA as soon as the deal is finished
The PIF – or Public Funding Fund – is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and is reportedly central to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s aim of creating the Saudi economic system much less reliant on proceeds from oil. The fund already owns billions of inventory in different online game firms, similar to Take-Two, and owns different firms similar to SNK.
Three months after the preliminary announcement was made, a submitting confirmed that the PIF will personal 93.4% of EA as soon as the deal is accomplished. Silver Lake Companions – an funding fund run by a US international non-public fairness movie based mostly in Silicon Valley – will personal 5.5% of the shares, in keeping with the submitting.
Affinity Companions – an American funding agency shaped by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, which primarily focuses on investing in US and Israeli firms, with most of its funding coming from the Saudi Arabian authorities – will personal the remaining 1.1%.
Lately Saudi Arabia officers have mentioned its investments within the video games trade will assist to modernize the dominion, however they’ve include adverse fallout as a result of nation’s extremely criticised human rights abuses.
Notably, the crown prince has been accused by US Intelligence of ordering the brutal homicide of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The nation has additionally has traditionally cracked down on feminine activists and LBGTQI+ rights, with authorized repercussions for LGBTQI+ people together with imprisonment, fines or the loss of life penalty in keeping with Amnesty Worldwide.
Concern round this led to EA-owned developer Maxis – the studio behind The Sims collection, which is thought for its inclusivity and character range – stating publicly that its values is not going to be affected by EA’s upcoming change in possession.
“From day one, our values have been the inspiration behind each selection we’ve made,” the studio wrote in January. “They’ve guided each threat we now have taken, each function we’ve created, and each actually wild story our gamers have delivered to life. They replicate our imaginative and prescient for this franchise and the eagerness of the groups around the globe which have constructed, and are nonetheless constructing, The Sims.”
