[UPDATE] EA's $55 Billion Buyout Is Due to Close Today, Taking the Publisher Private

Back in July we noted the EU had waved through the $55 billion buyout of EA, but the deal still was not done. Now it is basically there. EA expects the merger to close on or about the close of trading today, 4 August, after clearing the last of the approvals it needed.

When it does, EA stops being a public company. The buyers are Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, private-equity firm Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, the outfit founded by Jared Kushner. It is the largest take-private deal gaming has seen, and it was originally meant to close by the end of June before the antitrust and national-security reviews dragged it out, per This Week In Video Games.

What actually changes

In the short term, not much you will feel on a Tuesday night with Madden or Battlefield. The interesting question is the debt. Deals this size get financed, and that bill has to be paid from somewhere, which usually means the new owners want the money-printing parts of the business turned up. EA already had a rough year internally, including layoffs across four Battlefield studios in March.

So the honest read is: we do not know yet what private ownership does to how EA makes games. Going private takes a company out of the quarterly-earnings spotlight, which can mean more patience, or it can mean cost-cutting away from public view. We will find out which one this is over the next year, not this week.

For now, the fact itself: one of the biggest publishers in the industry is about to change hands, and a sovereign wealth fund is holding the largest share of it.