Electronic Arts confirmed on July 31 that all the regulatory sign-offs for its buyout are in hand, and the deal is now scheduled to close on or about August 4. The consortium — Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners — is paying roughly $55 billion in an all-cash transaction first announced back in September 2025. At that price it's the largest leveraged buyout on record, and it takes one of the industry's biggest publishers off the public market after more than three decades. What EA looks like under private ownership — and how much of the bill lands on future release schedules — is the open question now.