"Electronic Arts, maker of video games such as Madden NFL, Battlefield, and The Sims, is being acquired for $55bn, the biggest leveraged buyout attempt in history. Under the terms of the deal announced on Monday, the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF and Affinity Partners will pay EA's stockholders $210 per share. Affinity Partners is a private equity firm run by Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Electronic Arts would be taken private."
"If the transaction closes as anticipated, it will end EA's 36-year history as a publicly traded company that began with its shares ending its first day of trading at a split-adjusted $0.52. The IPO came seven years after EA was founded by former Apple employee William Trip Hawkins, who began playing analog versions of baseball and football made by Strat-O-Matic as a teenager during the 1960s. EA has been run by its current CEO, Andrew Wilson, since 2013."
Electronic Arts will be taken private in a $55bn leveraged buyout led by Silver Lake Partners, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Affinity Partners at $210 per share. Affinity Partners is run by Jared Kushner. The deal would be the largest leveraged buyout attempt in history and would surpass the $32bn TXU take-private in 2007. Completion would end EA's 36-year run as a publicly traded company; EA first listed seven years after its 1982 founding by William Trip Hawkins and closed its initial trading day at a split-adjusted $0.52. Andrew Wilson has been CEO since 2013. Silver Lake has executed other major tech buyouts, including Skype and Dell, and is part of a joint venture tied to a proposed U.S. oversight arrangement for TikTok.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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