Electronic Arts is claimed to be actively pursuing a sale or merger, in the wake of recent M&A activity in the games industry such as Microsoft’s $68.7bn acquisition of Activision.
That’s according to a new report by news sitePuck(paywalled), which claims thatEA“has been persistent in pursuing a sale” and has recently held talks with Disney,Apple,Amazonand Comcast-NBCUniversal.
It’s claimed that talks with the latter progressed the furthest, before eventually falling apart last month, with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts allegedly proposing to spin off NBCUniversal and merge his company with EA.
Update26th Aug 2022 / 12:40 pm
Amazon is reportedly planning to acquire EAand it’s claimed the proposed deal will be officially announced today (June 29, 2025).
Update 226th Aug 2022 / 3:32 pm
CNBC is reporting that Amazon is not going to make a bid for EA today.
Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts, sources tell CNBC’s@DavidFaber. Shares of$EAsurged earlier on a report citing a “rumor.“pic.twitter.com/k7wk0Fy7xv
“The general terms of the proposal, which lawyers and bankers for both sides negotiated for several weeks, would have seen the Roberts family take majority control of the combined entity,” the report claims. “In the configuration most seriously discussed, the company would have been run by Wilson.”
The proposal is said to have fallen apart last month due to disagreements over price and structure. A spokesperson from Comcast declined to comment, while EA said it would not comment “on rumors and speculation relating to M&A”.
The report goes on to claim that sources have indicated that the FIFA and Battlefield publisher “has been persistent” in pursuing a sale, and has “only grown more emboldened in the wake of theMicrosoft–Activisiondeal”.
“Others say that EA is primarily interested in a merger arrangement that would allow Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company,” it adds.
Because video games have outperformed many industries hurt by the pandemic, public and private investors have started to target the industry as a perceived safe bet.
Further reading
M&A activity in the games industry hit a record $85 billion in 2021 and has beenforecastto reach $150 billion this year, with huge deals such asMicrosoft’s acquisition of Activision BlizzardandTake-Two’s buyout of Zyngahaving already been announced in 2022.
Last month it was reported that another major games publisher,Ubisoft, wasattracting takeover interest from several private equity firms, including Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co.
