EU clears $55bn Saudi-led EA takeover under foreign-subsidy rules
Brussels approved the largest leveraged buyout in history after finding no distortion from PIF's state backing, leaving the US review as the deal's final major obstacle.
The European Commission approved the $55bn take-private of Electronic Arts by a Saudi-led consortium on 31 July, clearing the transaction under its Foreign Subsidies Regulation. The decision, which followed competition clearance granted days earlier, removes one of the last regulatory barriers to the largest leveraged buyout ever struck.
The buyers are Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, private-equity firm Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, the fund led by Jared Kushner. They agreed to take EA private in September 2025. Once the deal closes, PIF is set to hold roughly 93 per cent of the company.
A first real test for the subsidy rulebook
The Foreign Subsidies Regulation was designed to prevent non-EU state money from distorting competition when a foreign-backed buyer acquires a European business. PIF, a sovereign wealth fund worth around $1 trillion, is precisely the type of acquirer the instrument targets.
The Commission concluded that the fund's involvement would not tilt the playing field and cleared the deal under both merger and subsidy rules. The ruling signals that the FSR is not an automatic veto on sovereign wealth transactions, but a case-by-case screen.
For European policymakers, that distinction matters. The regulation is still young, and how Brussels applies it to Gulf-state capital will shape investment flows into the bloc for years.
What changes for EA
The publisher behind The Sims, Battlefield, Apex Legends and its long-running football franchise will leave public markets entirely. Under consortium ownership, EA inherits a strategy already in motion: aggressive monetisation, including a full advertising platform built into its games and aimed at more than 100 million players.
The acquisition is a centrepiece of Saudi Arabia's effort to build a global gaming industry and diversify away from oil. Through its Savvy Games arm, PIF has accumulated stakes in studios and esports firms worldwide. EA would be its most valuable holding by a wide margin.
The real gatekeeper is still Washington
Europe was not the only jurisdiction with a say. The deal still faces review in the United States, where the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States examines foreign control of American companies.
That CFIUS process is widely seen as the harder hurdle. Foreign ownership of a major US publisher, backed by a Gulf sovereign fund and a former president's son-in-law, falls squarely within the committee's mandate. No timeline for that review has been made public.
A sector reshaped by scale
EA's sale is the latest marker in a wave of consolidation across gaming, from Microsoft's Activision Blizzard purchase to ongoing speculation over further mega-deals. Deep-pocketed buyers now set the terms, and studios with global audiences have become strategic assets rather than mere entertainment companies.
The clearance also lands amid growing transatlantic friction over how Europe polices technology. US lawmakers have pressed to open a trade probe into EU tech rules even as Brussels approved this transaction without conditions.
For the consortium, the focus shifts to closing the remaining approvals. For the hundreds of millions of players who use EA's titles, the question of what a sovereign-owned publisher will mean for their games remains unanswered.
