YOU CAN'T SPELL DEAL WITHOUT EA

THE GIANT PUBLISHER HAS BEEN ACQUIRED FOR $55 BILLION

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After 35 years of being a publicly traded company, Electronic Arts is to go private in one of the biggest acquisitions in videogame history. Three major investors are involved - the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, the investment company Affinity Partners, headed by US president Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Silver Lake, a private equity company.

EA was founded in 1982 and first listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 1990. It hasn't always been a beloved company - it was named “Worst Company In America” by Consumerist voters in 2012 and 2013 - but it sits upon a treasure trove of classic games, from early hits like MULE, the Desert Strike series and Road Rash to The Sims, Medal Of Honor and Burnout, as well as more modern hits like the Mass Effect and Dead Space series.