Saudi Arabia’s takeover of EA gets approval from European Commission

Saudi Arabia’s proposed $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts has cleared one potentially significant hurdle, as the European Commission says it will not oppose the buyout.

“The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of sole control of Electronic Arts Inc. of the US by the Public Investment Fund (‘PIF’) of Saudi Arabia,” the ruling states (via RPS).

“The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given its limited impact on competition in the markets where the companies are active. The notified transaction was examined under the normal merger review procedure.”

The European Commission’s approval of this deal came much more easily than its thumbs-up of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard a few years ago, which spawned an in-depth investigation and specific commitments from Microsoft before the green light was given.

But the EA deal is also quite a bit different: Not a merger, but a transfer of ownership that will see the company taken private. That carries significant risks of its own, including the $20 billion in debt EA will take on to finance the deal, but those factors don’t enter into this ruling, which is based solely on its impact on competition within the EU.

There are still obstacles ahead, at least nominally. Game developers and US lawmakers alike have expressed “profound concern” about the deal and called on the US Federal Trade Commission to “carefully scrutinize” the proposed takeover.

That doesn’t seem likely to go anywhere, though. FTC chair Andrew Ferguson is a stalwart supporter of US president Donald Trump, Trump is tight with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, bin Salman is chair of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund—which will own more than 93% of EA if the deal is approved—and the whole thing is being backed by an investment firm founded by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.