Late last month, Electronic Arts confirmed that it had struck a $55 billion deal to go private under new ownership including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, and the private equity firm Silver Lake. There are a lot of unanswered questions about what this means for EA and the industry at large, but now two US Senators are raising the potential “foreign influence” Saudi Arabia could enact with EA under its control.
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren–both of whom are Democrats–co-authored a letter to EA CEO Andrew Wilson and Department of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about whether Saudi Arabia will take over EA’s editorial independence if the deal is approved. As reported by 404 Media, they also suggested that Saudi Arabia’s ownership may rise to the level of a “national security” risk.
“The deal’s potential to expand and strengthen Saudi foreign influence in the United States is compounded by the national security risks raised by the Saudi government’s access to and unchecked influence over the sensitive personal information collected from EA’s millions of users, its development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, and the company’s product design and direction.”
