From Politics to PlayStation: Jared Kushner’s Surprising EA Sports Move

It is hard to claim that we saw this news coming. Most of you have heard of Jared Kushner, especially after he was a part of Donald Trump's government during Trump's first term. Of course, he married Trump' s daughter, Ivanka, so there's that. EA Sports do not require a special introduction. Just a couple of weeks ago, one wouldn't have put Kushner and EA Sports in the same sentence. Not even by an accident. Yet, in September, one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, Electronic Arts was sold for $55 billion, with Jared Kushner in the middle of it.

As you can guess, no single entity could have purchased such a massive company as EA. It took Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners joint venture to get the deal done. The price of $55 billion seems to be justified when you know that Electronic Arts are behind gaming titles such as EA FC, formerly known as FIFA, The Sims, Mass Effect, and NFL Madden among many others.

Kushner can now quote his father in law, Donald Trump, and say that the purchase of EA which he was a part of was the largest leverage buyout in history. It is no secret that the big chunk of money invested into the buyout was financed through borrowing. Once this deal is fully completed, EA will become a private entity. Due to this, all of its public shares will be purchased and it will no longer be available for trade on the stock exchange. The news of the purchase and the price associated with it made the value of EA skyrocket by 25% premium on its current value, raising its per share cost at $210.

As far as the gaming industry goes, the only purchase that tops Kushner/EA deal is the Microsoft purchase of Activision Blizzard which went through at the cost of $69 billion. The price of this deal was elevated by the company's stronghold on one of the most popular global titles, the Call of Duty. As far as EA goes, the deal was closed with $36 billion coming from first buying it, with the rest being financed through loans. The EA chief executive, Andrew Wilson will remain in his post, and is more than eager to help elevate the Electronic Arts to new heights through this deal, which he claims was imminent and in the works for some time.

While the amount of debt scares many people associated with EA and the fans of their games, the fact that JPMorgan Chase Bank is behind it is reassuring enough. Despite the company falling into hands of private companies, this was a good moment to sell. EA's stocks have been performing well, and with the spike from the news of the sales, this was the best possible moment for the sale. Of course, as the company's strength is coming from the games it produces, the Battlefield 6 imminent release also served as a great momentum for the deal to go through.

While the sale of EA caught many by surprise, people close to the company and the gaming industry as a whole saw it coming from a mile away. Reports in months leading up to the deal all suggested that EA is open to offers. What caught many by surprise was the fact that the company went into the hands of private equity firms. It is the often too aggressive management approach by these companies what makes people previously associated with Electronic Arts feel uneasy.

Furthermore, the debt that is used to buy the company, will have to be repaid in coming months and years. For this to happen, EA will have to be able to generate strong cash flow to avoid any issues with the debt reimbursement. For this to happen, you can expect Jared Kushner and his investment group to have a heavy hands on approach to managing the EA affairs. Due to this, and the Saudi's involvement, some market analysts are concerned that this buyout could damage the brand and its products for the sole purpose of generating more wealth for those who already have plenty.

At the same time, the Electronic Arts current CEO, Andrew Wilson claims that the new owners will lead the company on the path of discovering new technologies, opportunities, while pushing the boundaries of sports and entertainment. His thoughts were backed by Egon Durban, Co CEO of Silver Lake, who added that the new owner group is more than prepared to invest heavily in order to further grow the EA and the businesses surrounding it with the emphasis on innovation and global reach.

With the deal being closed, the small matter of the Electronic Arts future is being raised. The sale of such a massive company such as EA comes in the eve of the changing landscape of player attitudes and appetites. Console games are not as popular as they once were. PlayStation, Xbox, and various PC titles popularity has been in decline for years now. What came in their stead are free to play games such as Fortnite, which are available on smartphones and different other mobile devices. Many have turned their heads toward alternative games such as Packs games, which are not only easy to play, available online, but with a bit of luck also rewarding. Such games are original, fun to play, rewarding, but also not as hard to develop and launch compared to some heavy EA titles.

Due to what we said in the paragraph above, many gaming analysts believe that the plan of Saudi investors is to make many of the EA titles free to play, and available on mobile devices. Just some of the considered strategies include a variety of in app purchase modes, and also cooperation with some of the world's most popular streamers who could be the voice for EA's new strategy. The first goal will be to expand the player base that EA already has, and that could be done through platforms such as Netflix which is already pushing heavily not the gaming sector.

While it is no secret that Saudi Arabia is leaning heavily into the gaming sector looking to expand its investment portfolio farther than the oil sector, and as much was shown with them being the host of the most recent eSports World Cup, the name of Jared Kushner being associated with the deal comes as a surprise. Since the last time you've heard from him, he has become a billionaire. Just like his brother, and father in law, through a slew of Middle East investments, backing from his partners in Saudi Arabia, and growth of his Florida real estate, Kushner has made quite a fortune for himself. Part of it was invested in the purchase of EA sports, and all of the work he has put in silence has now come to the light.

Jared started as a CEO of Kushner Companies, a real estate company founded by his father and grandfather. Once he had solid ground to stand on, Jared invested part of his fortune into an Israeli insurance and financial services firm Phoenix. The deal that saw him buy a 10% stake in Phoenix through his private equity firm Affinity Partners, made more than solid returns to Kushner who now at 44 years of age can call himself a billionaire of his own.

While his businesses are running more than solidly, his biggest talent is the ability to raise funds from other billionaires and be their bridge to investment into companies such as Electronic Arts. According to Forbes, Jared Kushner is today worth a little bit over the $1 billion mark. The decision not to pursue a career in real estate like his family was a wise one. After serving a mandate in the Trump's administration, where his presence was crucial in creating the Abraham Accords, he did enough to get a fair share of connections that would serve him well in the future. Once out of the White House in 2021 he founded Affinity Partners, a company that is now worth $215 million. This company was able to raise $4.6 billion, and reinvest the main part of it in ventures ranging from car rental, tech sector, and digital banks. Unlike some of the members of his closest family, so far he has stayed away from crypto investment.

The latest move saw him going into the gaming sector, and with the purchase of a big player such as EA, we will be hearing about Jared Kushner much more than before. As far as EA goes, their past, and present have been amazing, and nothing less is expected of its future. In the past the company has produced some of the most popular games to ever greet the market. It is hard to comprehend that it all started with a game called Hard Hat Mack way back in 1983. Since then EA has been racking up win after win as far as gaming goes. Just some of the top games developed by the company include titles such as The Mass Effect Trilogy, all FIFA instalments to this day with FC 26 included, Medal of Honour, NBA Street Vol. 2, Dead Space, Skate 2, The Sims 3, Titanfall 2, Burnout 3: Takedown, Battlefield Series, Command And Conquer: Generals, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Apex Legends, and Crysis among many others.

At the moment, despite the buyout, EA has no plans on stopping on any of its upcoming projects. In fact, most of them are vital for the company's well-being post purchase. What's coming soon to EA are the Battlefield 6, Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, and Star Wars Zero Company. These games are all but completed, and their release is imminent. Recently, the company has released EA Sports FC 26 in September, and earlier this year two football titles called Madden NFL 26, and EA Sports College Football 26.

While there's no in company news on the future releases, the stories around industry claim that games that are in development by Electronic Arts include titles such as Dragon Age 4, new Mass Effect game, new Need for Speed title, Iron Man game, Star Wars first person shooter, and a different Star Wars strategy game.

Knowing all of this, makes it easy to understand the $55 billion price tag associated with the buyout of EA. The company has been on the market for more than 40 years and in the meantime it has become synonymous with gaming. EA has been a revolutionary presence on the market since 1993 when it came forward with its first ever football title, which now goes under the name EA FC which sold more than 325 million copies since the first edition. Their second best selling title is The Sims which sold over 200 million copies, while Need for Speed trends at some 150 million of sold copies.

Through its history, Electronic Arts were often associated with other big franchises from literature and cinema including worldwide recognized names such as Harry Potter and James Bond among numerous others. Due to all of this, it was clear why it was the most obvious purchase for the Saudi Arabia investment fund. In the past the Saudis have invested another $25 billion to buy Niantic which provided them a hold over one of the most popular mobile games ever:Pokemon Go.

With Jared Kushner as an intermediary, the Saudis grip on eSports and gaming is only going to be bigger in the future. The American businessman has proved his worth on the financial market, and now with his name being associated with a massive gaming brand such as EA it is out there for everyone to see. One could even argue that he has now exited Donald Trump's shadow if he was ever there in the first place. All that is left for Jared to do now, is to be a pushing force for some of the future EA releases, and the Electronic Arts purchase will be seen with positive views from the gaming community.