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Notes -
Saudi Arabia takes its biggest step yet into the biggest of culture war arenas:
EA Announces Agreement to be Acquired by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners for $55 Billion
Electronic Arts has been bought up by the Saudi investment arm PIF, alongside Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners and PE giant Silver Lake. The trio paid $55Bn for EA, albeit in a leveraged buyout involving $20Bn of debt financing(!).
On the surface, nothing too interesting, perhaps another example of the incredible growth in private equity. And that might be all there is, just 3 funds thinking there is untapped potential in what was an often poorly run gaming giant. However, PIF is almost certainly the largest owner, and AP News identifies the deal as part of the Saudi strategy. I expect Kushner is either wetting his beak or acting as a lightning rod for the Saudis, while Silver Lake probably needed no encouragement to get in on the deal.
The Saudis appear to have identified major cultural industries in Sports and Gaming as prime opportunities for...something? "Sportswashing" makes sense for the tiny nations and city states like Qatar and Abu Dhabi which have no real power outside of their resources, but it's not clear what Saudi Arabia gains from pumping hundreds of billions into these industries. Much has been said of the desire of MBS to diversify Saudi Arabia, and at least with this deal there is room to move EA functions into the country, but it's a drop in the bucket. The leveraged nature of the deal is also unusual; that's the kind of option you typically pursue when asset stripping - neither the Saudis nor Silver Lake needs that kind of business.
Does EA even have something worth of buying? Bioware is dumpster fire, Battlefield time is long gone. And let alone for 60B.
Whoever from EA negotiated this deal deserves every cent and then a lot more. It will be a total disaster for the buyers.
The have licenses for most major sports titles? FIFA, Madden, NHL, CFB, F1. (Think of that microtransaction money flow)
That is also without mentioning the Star Wars license.As far as I can tell the Star Wars license expired already in 2023.
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Battlefield 6 actually looks like it's going to be a smash hit, based on how many people were playing the open beta a month ago. It basically feels like BF3 and BF4 again, instead of whatever crap they've been doing with the series in the last few years.
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My understanding is they're still a market leader in sports games, like the yearly basketball or football tie-in game. Those don't have a great reputation among hardcore gamers, but the gaming market as a whole snatches them up.
Given the Saudis' love for buying up sports franchises, it's likely this had to do mostly with those titles and not a newfound passion for Mass Effect.
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