EA Nearing Billion Deal With Saudi Arabia And Other Investors To Go Private Report

EA could reportedly go private with a $50 billion deal to be revealed as early as next week between a group of investors, which includes Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), according to The Wall Street Journal.

Alongside PIF, according to people the WSJ said are familiar with the matter, private-equity firm Silver Lake is also reportedly involved with the deal. While EA has a market value of approximately $43 billion, two people told the WSJ that the behind-closed-doors discussions have valued the sports-sim maker closer to $50 billion.

According to the WSJ, if the deal comes together and goes through, this will be the "largest leveraged buyout of all time." The last mega-buyout was in 2007, when Texas-based utility company TXU was purchased by a group of private-equity firms for about $32 billion.