EA Shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the $55 billion purchase of the gaming studio by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), with more than 201 million votes in favor of the deal. Although EA's acquisition of PIF has cleared a major hurdle with the company's shareholders, the deal is still subject to regulatory approval from government officials.
The shareholder vote comes months after EA announced it was going private ahead of a $55 billion deal to be acquired by a Saudi-backed consortium. The new group will see control of EA shared between PIF, Affinity Partners, and Silver Lake, with PIF owning a 93.7% majority. The PIF is backed by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is known to be an avid gamer. EA's pending buyout wouldn't be the first time PIF has struck deals with gaming companies, as it currently holds a 96% majority stake in SNK, the creators of fighting games. Fatal Fury: City of Wolves and King of Fighters series. PIF also currently has small investment stakes in other companies, including Nintendo, Take-Two, and Capcom.
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EA shareholders said 'yes' to PIF's purchase
Although EA's new ownership consortium will be led by PIF, this did not prevent majority shareholders from clearing the deal. According to an official filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), there were 201,459,396 votes in favor of the merger agreement between EA and the PIF-led consortium, with 1,914,837 votes against PIF's deal and 90,311 abstentions. By equal margin, there were 178,308,365 votes in support of an advisor compensation proposal, 24,908,638 votes against and 254,561 abstentions. Therefore, EA's pending acquisition has cleared one of the biggest hurdles to completion. The vote was taken at a special stockholders' meeting held by EA on December 22. As part of the buyout process, EA will go private and current shareholders will be paid $210 per share, making it the largest leveraged buyout in history.
The approval comes amid reportedly turbulent times for the PIF in particular. Last fall, reports said the PIF was short on funds after its participation in the EA purchase, and that the fund was looking to avoid investing more money in other projects as a result. However, despite some of these issues, PIF said acquiring an EA is a long-term investment that can slowly double in value. PIF 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 contract may not be completed yet
While shareholder approval of EA's acquisition by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners was cleared, another challenge looms on the horizon for all parties involved. The deal still has to be approved by various government agencies, though some concerns have long been raised by US officials. In October 2025, US Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote to the US Treasury Department, stating that the purchase of EA by a PIF-led consortium could pose a national security risk. Warren and Blumenthal pointed out how volatile EA's financial performance could be and noted that the EA deal could give the Saudi government access to customer data in the US and abroad.
In an effort to ease the concerns of fans and shareholders, EA confirmed that CEO Andrew Wilson will remain in his current position if the deal goes ahead as planned and that the company will still retain full creative control. Time will tell how the ongoing appropriations battle plays out when Congress returns from recess in 2026.
Sources: Bloomberg (via PC Gamer)
