Sacred Symbols+, Episode 480 | A Leveraged Electronic Arts Buyout, Saudi-Style (Video) (Patreon)

A Leveraged Electronic Arts Buyout, Saudi-Style | Sacred Symbols+, Episode 480

It's me, Colin. Please welcome SS+ regular Rick Hoeg back to the show. For the first time since Microsoft's purchase of Activision, Rick finds himself squarely in his element: Video game M&A. But this new deal has some interesting wrinkles. The target this time around is storied American publisher Electronic Arts, and the buyer is a consortium of financial interests led by none other than Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. Thus, what makes for a straight-forward leveraged buyout (the largest in history, in fact) quickly gets muddied with cultural, social, and political issues galore. Such is life! Let's get into it.