Stocks Electronic Arts It concluded with 15% on Friday following a Wall Street Journal report. Video game companies are approaching a deal of around $50 billion to become private.
Investors, including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Silver Lake, can announce the deal immediately next week, the report said. PIF is pouring billions of dollars into the game, buying the maker of Pokemon Go and the parent company behind Monopoly GO.
Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners is another participating investor, according to sources familiar with the issue they asked to not name because the discussion was private.
The deal will be the largest leveraged buyout in Wall Street history, surpassing the 2007 contract to make TXU Energy private for around $45 billion. A leveraged buyout (LBO) is when debt is primarily used for acquisitions.
EA produced popular video games such as Sims, Madden NFL, and The Soccer Game FC. Friday’s earnings meant that the stock price was up about 32% per year.
The EA did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Watch: CNBC interview with EA CEO Andrew Wilson
