EA's leveraged buyout debt drives $700M cost target as PIF weighs Savvy merger

Sep 1, 2026

Summary

PIF's $55 billion leveraged buyout of EA closed last month, giving PIF 93.4%, Silver Lake 5.5% and Affinity Partners 1.1%.

The buyout's debt load pushes EA toward $700 million in cost savings.

Employees link that target to layoffs, studio closures and game cancellations.

PIF is weighing a merger of EA and Savvy Games Group, its wholly owned mobile and esports arm.

BioWare and The Sims developers fear PIF pressure against inclusive storytelling.

Two co-investors hold just 6.6% of a company taken private at $55B

PIF's $55 billion leveraged buyout of EA closed last month, gaming's largest such deal.

PIF holds a 93.4% stake in EA.

Silver Lake holds 5.5% and Affinity Partners, the Kushner-backed firm, holds 1.1%.

The two named co-investors together control 6.6% of the company.

Debt service, not strategy, drives the $700M cost target

The buyout saddled EA with billions in debt serviced from its own operations.

EA is targeting $700 million in cost savings to meet that obligation.

Employees link the target to projected layoffs, studio closures and game cancellations.

Going private ended EA's quarterly disclosure, removing the leverage benchmark investors previously tracked.

PIF installs the same executive across EA and Savvy

Turqi Alnowaiser, PIF's deputy governor, became interim Savvy CEO on September 1, replacing Brian Ward.

Alnowaiser also worked on the EA acquisition, placing one PIF executive across both balance sheets.

"As Savvy embarks on its next period of transformational growth, this is the right time for new leadership for that evolution"

— Brian Ward, outgoing CEO, Savvy Games Group

The EA buyout raised internal concern at Savvy over how both Saudi-owned businesses will be run.

A Savvy merger would fold EA into an opaque sovereign portfolio

PIF is discussing merging EA with Savvy, owner of Scopely, ESL FaceIt Group and public gaming stakes.

PIF transferred roughly $12 billion of those minority stakes directly to Savvy in January 2026.

Sources say the merger is unlikely before Savvy completes its $6 billion Moonton acquisition.

A completed merger would remove any remaining path back to public reporting for EA.

Minority owners face a structure with no disclosed exit

Silver Lake and Affinity Partners bought into EA expecting a conventional private equity exit.

A Savvy merger substitutes a sovereign conglomerate for a market-based buyer.

No precedent exists for valuing or unwinding minority stakes in such a structure.

PIF already holds direct public stakes in Nintendo, Take-Two, Activision Blizzard, Capcom, Nexon and Embracer.

BioWare and The Sims face a values test the deal terms don't bind

BioWare developers fear PIF may pressure the studio away from inclusive storytelling.

The Sims developers share the same concern about PIF influence over inclusive content.

"EA will maintain creative control, and our track record of creative freedom and player-first values will remain intact"

— EA, letter to staff

Those assurances are tied to no disclosed governance mechanism, contract term or board seat.

What this means

For Investors & VC: A sovereign roll-up offers no standard liquidity path; price EA-style co-invests accordingly.

For Publishers & Developers: A merged EA-Savvy would span premium console and high-volume mobile monetization under one owner.

Events

Companies

Games

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Locations

North AmericaSaudi Arabia

SYNTHESIZED FROM:

COMPILED BY GAMES ATLAS EDITORIAL

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