EA May Carry Out Mass Layoffs Following Its Acquisition, Report Suggests
EA reportedly took on $18 billion in debt from the buyout and may turn to layoffs to help cover it.
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Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts has been acquired by a consortium of three private investors – Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, closing the deal that has been discussed for about a year.
While it remains unclear how the acquisition will affect the company's operations, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier has raised concerns about potential layoffs. He took to Bluesky and pointed out several facts, also sharing his opinion: "EA officially goes private tonight, meaning: EA will no longer trade on the NASDAQ for the first time in 36 years, All stockholders of EA (including many employees) will receive $210/share, EA will take on $18 billion (!) in debt, putting it on the hook to pay ~$1.8 billion/year in interest."
In a comment to the post, he continued: "EA's annual Ebitda is around $1.5 billion, which should be enough to service the interest payments. But the publisher has told debt investors that it will cut $700 million in annual costs including $170 million in "organizational efficiencies," per Bloomberg. In other words: mass layoffs."
Concerns about layoffs following the acquisition were raised by the company's employees before, and EA issued an employee FAQ in the US Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The document covered the reasons for the deal, its implications, and estimated terms and also addressed concerns over workforce reductions, saying "there will be no immediate changes to your job, team, or daily work."
According to another report, citing information first shared by the Financial Times, EA's new owners would rely on AI to "manage a large debt load."
As of now, Electronic Arts has not issued any official comments about workforce numbers or potential changes in that area.
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