Grand Theft America / Receipt money-2025-09-29-054

Kushner's Affinity joins Saudi-led $55 billion EA buyout

Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners co-invested in a $55 billion take-private of Electronic Arts led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

Verified through 2026-07-08Source: Variety; CNBCCorrections: none logged

What happened

Announced September 29, 2025, the deal — the largest leveraged buyout on record — was backed by Saudi Arabia's PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, with about $36B equity and $20B debt. Affinity, founded by Kushner in 2021 and seeded with a $2B PIF commitment in 2022 (plus a reported $1.5B added in late 2024 from Qatar's QIA and Abu Dhabi's Lunate), is a minority co-investor; the $55 billion is total transaction value, not a payment to Kushner. As fund deal capital rather than fees pocketed personally, it is not counted.

Why it matters

Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, seeded with a $2B Saudi PIF commitment plus other Gulf money, co-invested in the roughly $55B buyout of Electronic Arts. A firm bankrolled by a foreign sovereign fund and run by the president's son-in-law taking part in a mega-deal raises foreign-influence concerns.

Receipt details

  • Take the foreign money
  • Deal value
  • $55000M

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