The six-month timeline of EA’s $55 billion Saudi-backed offer

Plus: EA forecasts something gigantic for 2027-2028

Madden NFL 26. Screenshot: EA

In mid-September, once it was clear to the leaders of Electronic Arts that a consortium of investors including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was highly interested in purchasing the company, EA’s board of directors chose not pursue competing offers.

Simply put, they did not think they could find anyone who would give them a better deal.

Or, as EA itself put it in a filing for shareholder this week, the company and its legal and financial advisors believed there “would not likely be any other potential counterparties that would have both a strategic interest in, and the financial wherewithal to pursue, the potential transaction that could compete with the Investors on price and certainty of closing.”

That tracks with years of rumors and reporting that EA has been for sale for some time, and had failed to find a viable suitor.

Less than two weeks after EA ruled out any search for a better offer, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that the Saudi PIF, along with private equity firm Silver Lake and investment group Affinity Partners, were bidding around $50 billion for the maker of Madden, Battlefield and the Urbz.

Two days after that, the board noted that the Journal report had not led to any counter-offers.

The parties officially announced the proposed $55 billion deal the next day.

EA has now provided a timeline of how the planned deal came to be, as it hopes to earn shareholder approval for the sale via an upcoming vote.

EA’s run-down lacks the drama of Microsoft’s bid for Activision Blizzard, which saw Microsoft kick the tires on the then-embattled company in late 2021, as Activision’s stock dropped. When Microsoft came calling four years ago, Activision had just been rocked by relatively soft Call of Duty sales and a company misconduct scandal that led to a settlement with the U.S. government.

EA’s rundown nevertheless details what amounted to a slow-motion six-month courtship, followed by rapid negotiations in September that led to the historic bid.

The timeline, according to EA

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund—the Public Investment Fund (PIF)—began investing in EA (and many other gaming companies) in 2020, building a 5% stake to close to 10% by early 2024.

EA says it occasionally met with PIF officials to discuss the games industry and EA’s business strategy: