Dado Ruvic | Reuters
Shares of Electronic Arts jumped 15% on Friday following a report in the Wall Street Journal that the video game company is nearing a roughly $50 billion deal to go private.
Investors including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Silver Lake could announce the deal as soon as next week, the report said.
The deal would be the largest leveraged buyout in Wall Street history, surpassing the agreement to take TXU Energy private for about $45 billion in 2007. A leveraged buyout (LBO) is when debt is predominately used for an acquisition, a tactic traditionally used by private equity firms or activists.
EA makes popular video games including The Sims, Madden NFL, the soccer game FC, formerly known as FIFA. With Friday’s gains, the stock is up 32% for the year.
EA did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
