EA shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the $55 billion buyout of the gaming studio by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), with over 201 million votes backing the deal. Although the PIF’s acquisition of EA has cleared a major hurdle with the company’s shareholders, the deal is still subject to regulatory approval by government officials.
The shareholder vote came months after EA announced it was going private ahead of the $55 billion deal to be acquired by the Saudi-backed consortium. The new group will see control of EA shared between the PIF, Affinity Partners, and Silver Lake, with the PIF owning a 93.7% majority stake. The PIF is backed by Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who is known to be an avid gamer. EA’s pending buyout would not be the first time the PIF has dealt with gaming companies, as it currently holds a 96% majority stake in SNK, the creators of fighting games like Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves and The King of Fighters series. The PIF also currently holds small investment stakes in other companies, including Nintendo, Take-Two, and Capcom.
EA Shareholders Overwhelmingly Say ‘Yes’ to the PIF’s Buyout
Although EA’s new ownership consortium will be led by the PIF, that did not dissuade the vast majority of shareholders from clearing the deal. According to an official filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 201,459,396 votes were for the merger agreement between EA and the PIF-led consortium, with 1,914,837 votes cast against the PIF’s deal and 90,311 abstentions. By a similar margin, an advisory compensation proposal saw 178,308,365 votes supporting it, with 24,908,638 votes against and 254,561 abstentions. Ergo, EA’s pending acquisition has cleared one of the largest hurdles towards completion. The vote took place during a special stockholders’ meeting hosted by EA on December 22. As part of the buyout process, EA will go private and current shareholders will be paid out at $210 per share, making it the largest leveraged buyout in history.
The approval comes amid a reportedly tumultuous time for the PIF in particular. Earlier in the fall, reports stated that the PIF was low on funds following its participation in the EA buyout, and the fund was looking to not invest as much money into other projects as a result. However, despite some of these issues, the PIF stated that acquiring EA was a long-term investment that could gradually double in value. The PIF had already reduced its investment stake in Nintendo, from 7.5% to 6.3%, in November 2024, nearly a year before the EA acquisition was made public.
EA’s Deal May Not Be Done Just Yet
While the shareholder approval of EA’s acquisition by the PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners was one big hurdle cleared, another challenge looms on the horizon for all parties involved. The deal still has to be approved by various government entities, though some concerns have long been raised by US officials. In October 2025, US Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) penned a letter to the US Treasury Department, stating that EA’s buyout by the PIF-led consortium could be a national security risk. Warren and Blumenthal pointed out how volatile EA’s financial performance could be, and cited that the EA deal could give the Saudi government access to customer data in the US and abroad.
In an effort to ease concerns from fans and shareholders, EA confirmed that CEO Andrew Wilson would remain at his current post should the deal go through as planned and that the company would still retain full creative control. Only time will tell how the ongoing acquisition battle will play out once Congress returns from its holiday break in 2026.
Sources: Bloomberg (via PC Gamer)
