EA Buyout Highlights Gaming Struggles as Growth Slows
The gaming market has matured and analysts see slower growth moving forward
The leveraged buyout of video-game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. by a group of investors including the Saudi sovereign wealth fund highlights challenges in the broader gaming industry, which has struggled in recent years to find new avenues of growth.
A group including Silver Lake Management and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which already owns 10% of Electronic Arts, will acquire the game maker in what will amount to the biggest leveraged buyout on record, the companies said Monday. The deal values Electronic Arts at $55 billion.
Electronic Arts, known for popular games such as Battlefield and EA Sports FC, ranks among the largest video-game companies in the US, alongside Roblox Corp., which is valued at almost $94 billion, and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., publisher of the Grand Theft Auto series, which has a market capitalization of $47 billion.