Electronic Arts has completed its $55 billion sale to a consortium of investors including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, a deal that netted shareholders around $210 per share but has raised fears of significant job cuts. To help finance the acquisition, EA took on roughly $18 billion in debt alongside $36 billion in equity, and the company has reportedly told debt investors it plans to cut $700 million in annual costs, including $170 million in what it calls "organisational efficiencies" — language widely interpreted as a euphemism for mass layoffs.

EA's annual earnings (EBITDA) of around $1.5 billion should comfortably cover the roughly $1.8 million in yearly interest payments on the new debt, according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, but the cost-cutting drive still points towards substantial redundancies. The move follows a pattern at EA, where CEO Andrew Wilson recently received a $38 million bonus despite earlier layoffs affecting Battlefield 6 developers. While Wilson framed the deal's completion as entering a period of "strength" and bold investment, uncertainty now looms over EA's single-player projects such as Mass Effect 4 and the Star Wars Jedi series, even as its established sports franchises like FC, Madden and NHL are expected to remain a priority for revenue generation.