Electronic Arts is being taken private in a 55 billion dollar leveraged buyout led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and on June 22 2026 reports surfaced that the publisher had begun a third round of 2026 layoffs hitting IT, recruitment, customer support, and trust and safety teams. The cuts, first reported by Kotaku, struck remote workers in the United States and veteran staff at EA's hub in Hyderabad, India, some of whom had been with the company for over a decade.
The timing tells the story. EA is trimming headcount in the exact period before one of the largest ownership changes in video game history closes, and the pattern of belt tightening is unmistakable.
Who is buying EA and for how much?
The buyer is a consortium of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, the investment firm founded by Jared Kushner. The deal is valued at roughly 55 billion dollars and is structured as a leveraged buyout, with about 36 billion dollars in equity and 20 billion dollars in debt arranged by banks including JPMorgan Chase. If it closes, the Public Investment Fund would hold a controlling stake of about 93.4 percent.
EA shareholders approved the transaction in December 2025. The company expects to remain headquartered in Redwood City, California, with Andrew Wilson staying on as chief executive after the deal completes.
Why are the layoffs happening before the deal closes?
A leveraged buyout loads the acquired company with debt, and 20 billion dollars of it lands on EA itself. Cutting roles in support functions and outsourcing work to external partners is the textbook move to make the balance sheet look leaner before a sale finalizes. EA framed an internal message as adapting how it works to meet changing player needs, but the practical effect is fewer people keeping its games online and staffed.
This is not an isolated event. EA had already eliminated positions on the Battlefield 6 and Skate development teams earlier in 2026, and the financial pressure is structural rather than performance driven. The company reported net revenue of 7.531 billion dollars for the fiscal year that ended March 31 2026, a one percent increase, though net income fell from 1.121 billion dollars to 887 million dollars.
What happens to Battlefield, Madden, The Sims, and Apex Legends?
Those franchises would sit under Saudi backed ownership. EA Sports FC, Madden, Apex Legends, and The Sims are among the most valuable recurring revenue properties in gaming, and a fund that paid 55 billion dollars will want them optimized for returns. History offers a warning here. When financial owners restructure to maximize dividends, studios and projects become disposable, and the workers carrying these games have little leverage with owners who treat them as line items.
Why are lawmakers and unions trying to block the deal?
A group of 46 Democratic lawmakers, the Communications Workers of America, and several human rights organizations have pressed the Federal Trade Commission to scrutinize the acquisition, raising concerns about competition, layoffs, canceled projects, weaker labor protections, and Saudi influence over a major cultural industry. The European Commission set July 22 2026 as the deadline for its initial antitrust decision.
My read is that the deal will likely clear regulators despite the noise, because antitrust enforcers focus on market competition rather than the nationality of the buyer or the ethics of sovereign wealth. The more interesting question is what EA looks like in three years. A debt heavy buyout rarely leaves a company more creative, and the steady drip of layoffs before the ink is even dry is a preview of the discipline a Saudi owned EA will run on.
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