Electronic Arts (EA) was founded in 1982 by Trip Hawkens in San Mateo, California. Their focus early on was to put the spotlight on quality games and the designers behind them. Developers were treated like artists and games were the art and it showed in advertising and how EA was viewed by those on the business side and gamers showed up supporting the results. In the first quarter of 1990, Electronic Arts launched on the NASDAQ stock market at a price of about 52 cents per share. Now, third quarter of 2025, EA is returning to private holding and is preparing to leave the stock market in a monumental deal worth $55 billion for comparison, X (formerly Twitter) sold for $40 billion to Elon Musk in the second quarter of 2022.
Electronic Arts Turns Their Attention to Bigger Things
Under the guidance of Hawkens, EA had a pretty good focus on smaller games, creators, but also an appetite for acquiring those doing quite well. I cannot find sources now because ANYTHING with EA, Electronic Arts, “acquired”/”purchased” or even $55 billion sees results flooded with this latest news. EA was on a tangent for years acquiring other companies, some under Hawkens leadership, and even after he stepped down.
According to the LA Times, EA was purchased by a consortium built with Silver Lake Partners, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and a firm run by Jared Kushner.
The LA Times continue to state that the deal is expected to close in 2026, ending EA’s publicly traded adventure. https://youtu.be/8U7HwEP7me4
Memories of a Simpler Time
For me, EA will always be the reason I got to enjoy Lords of Conquest on the Commodore 64. They are also a driving force that brought us the 3DO console, for better or for worse, I truly believe that console forced gaming forward even though it ultimately failed in the market.
What are your memories of EA games? Are you excited for this acquisition? How do you think this purchase will effect the games that EA releases? Let me know in the comments.
The price of Madden 2026 on Amazon, as of this posting, was around $50 to $53 - https://amzn.to/470fU65 (affiliate link)