EA: Had numerous discussions about merger or acquisition

Electronic Arts According to a report by the website Puck has had numerous discussions about a merger with an outside company or an acquisition by an outside company some time ago. In these talks, the most realistic candidate seemed to be the American company NBC Universal to be, which belongs to the NBC group. According to the report, this would have been a very good fit for a future collaboration, especially given the numerous sports rights in the NBC portfolio. In terms of licenses, we have reported extensively on Fifa and EA Sports over the past few weeks. Apparently the goal would have been to combine NBC Universal and EA into one media giant, with the current EA CEO at the helm Andrew Wilson should have sat.

EA and the giants

But the deal didn’t go through due to differences in financial and structural terms. However, EA should also work with other tech and media giants like Disney, Amazon or Apple have spoken.

Similar to NBC Universal, Puck says Disney would also have presented an interesting opportunity for EA going into the sports division ESPN thinks. The last offer of talks by EA to Disney is said to be in March 2022 have given, but in the end no conversation came about. A possible merger between Electronic Arts and NBC Universal should continue to be the goal of NBC Universal boss Brian Roberts.

Sale, merger or no deal at all?

According to the report, there are numerous sources claiming that EA is primarily interested in a deal that would leave Wilson as CEO of a merged giant. What is also interesting about the story is that Electronic Arts itself spent over 5 billion US dollars on numerous studios last year alone. These include Codemasters, the studio behind the current Formula 1 titles and the grid games.