RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A group of investors has agreed to pay $55 billion for Entertainment Arts Inc, makers of iconic video games like “The Sims” and “Madden NFL.”
Among the new owners is Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump. The group who bought EA includes Kushner’s Affinity Partners, Silver Lake, and PIF, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Kushner himself made the announcement at a news conference in Riyadh, saying that he was proud to have done such a deal with such wonderful people. He said that he enjoyed playing EA games when he was growing up. “I especially liked the one with the plumber,” he said. At a reporter’s correction that the plumber game was Mario, owned by Nintendo, Kushner quickly said he meant to say “the sports ones.”
Entertainment Arts Stock Loses
An equally effusive representative of PIF said the country already had a team working on an update of The Sims that would more accurately reflect Saudi family values. The new version is to be called PAMS, or Proper Arranged Marriage Simulator. The official said he was looking forward to working on the next iteration of Fortnite before excusing himself to take a call.
To Kushner, who remained, a reporter said, “Fortnite is Epic Games, not EA.”
“Moving on to Madden,” said Kushner.
The news conference petered out after that, and EA announced that its stock share price had dropped 47 percent.
