Gaming
The grim industry summer continues as EA lays off staff ahead of $55 billion sale to Saudi Arabia, likely to soothe
Electronic Arts (EA) is reportedly laying off an undisclosed number of employees across its recruitment, customer support, trust and safety, and IT teams.
Key takeaways
- EA is laying off staff ahead of its $55 billion sale to Saudi Arabia's public investment fund
- Saudi Arabia's public investment fund will hold a 93.4% stake in EA after the deal
- EA has taken on $20 billion in loan debt to close the acquisition deal
- The layoffs target recruitment, customer support, trust and safety, and IT teams
- The deal is drawing concern over Saudi Arabia's history of human rights violations
Electronic Arts (EA) is reportedly laying off an undisclosed number of employees across its recruitment, customer support, trust and safety, and IT teams. According to internal sources and emails shared by Kotaku, these cuts are occurring ahead of a planned $55 billion acquisition by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund, which is set to acquire a 93.4% stake in the publisher. The pre-acquisition layoffs are reportedly driven by EA's need to manage $20 billion in loan debt taken on to close the deal.
In their words
“adapt how we work to better meet fans’ changing needs … As part of this evolution, we are making or proposing to make changes to some roles, creating new roles, and moving certain work to different teams, locations, or service partners.”
By the numbers
- $55B
- Sale price of EA to Saudi Arabia's fund
- 93.4%
- Saudi Arabia's planned stake in EA
- $20B
- Loan debt EA took on to close the deal
- 260x
- EA CEO's salary compared to median company salary
- 1,900
- People laid off by Microsoft after Activision acquisition
How it unfolded
- EA laid off BioWare veterans.
- EA laid off hundreds of employees and cancelled two projects.
- EA cancelled the Black Panther game and closed its studio.
- Saudi Arabia's investment fund reportedly tightened its purse strings.
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Common questions
- What happened with Electronic Arts?
- EA is laying off staff ahead of its $55 billion sale to Saudi Arabia's public investment fund
- Where can I read the original report?
- Read the full report at pc_gamer.
