Fact Sheet | EA Acquisition

Social share icons

What’s happening? 

  • On September 29th, EA announced that a consortium of investors is seeking to take the company private in a deal that values EA at $55 billion.
  • The investor consortium includes three parties: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF); Silver Lake, a private equity firm with significant investments in sports-related industries; and Affinity Partners, a private equity firm founded by President Trump’s son-in-law and former advisor Jared Kushner.
  • EA is a major employer in the global video game industry, with approximately 8,600 employees located in the U.S. and Canada. 

What does this mean for EA workers and players? 

  • EA is taking on $20 billion of new debt to finance the deal, more than 7 times the company’s expected operating income for the current fiscal year, and nearly 10 times the company’s current debt of just over $2 billion. Analysts say this dramatically higher debt load could pressure the company toto employ cost-cutting measures including publishing fewer games, closing studios, and laying off workers.
  • As workers worry about the status of their jobs, EA CEO Andrew Wilson could cash out an estimated $106 million under this deal, and the remaining top four executives combined could be paid over $125 million.
  • The acquisition comes at a turbulent time in the video game industry, and for EA specifically. EA itself has laid off an estimated 1,700 U.S.-based games workers since 2023 amid mass layoffs and offshoring in the wider industry. In California, the U.S. state with the largest concentration of video game workers including approximately 2,100 EA workers and managers, EA laid off 100 workers at Respawn Studios in April 2025 when it cancelled two of the studio’s games.
  • Press reports suggest that one cost cutting strategy EA’s new owners hope to use is to expand the use of AI in game development, which some EA workers oppose because of its potential to curb creativity and slash demand for talent.
  • This deal was negotiated without workers’ knowledge or input and raises concerns about EA’s potential to gain even more labor market power that could further limit competition and degrade working conditions. In fact, EA reported that in fiscal 2025 its median employee was paid 21 percent less than its median employee in fiscal 2024 ($117,302 vs. 148,704), which suggests EA may indeed already have substantial labor market power.
  • As game developers have raised concerns about EA’s creative control and editorial decisions, there is evidence that EA players are also concerned, as some major influencers within the EA player community have announced their decisions to leave partnership programs over the acquisition.