Electronic Arts reportedly looking to cut costs by $700 million following debt-heavy $55 billion acquisition

When the $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts closed recently, it was confirmed that the deal went through in two parts. The various investors who had come together to snap up the massive publisher had paid around $36 billion of the sale, but the remaining approximate $20 billion was being covered by a loan taken against EA. It's regarded as one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history because of this move.

But the big question now EA has a whopping $20 billion debt hanging around its shoulders is how the company was going to reduce this immense figure and eliminate the loan. We now have been given an insight into this, as Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has taken to Bluesky to reveal there are plans to cut costs by an insane $700 million.

In fact, of this cost-cutting, $170 million will come from "organisational efficiencies", which effectively if you translate this corporate mumbo-jumbo, means mass layoffs and perhaps even entire studios being shut down and projects being cancelled.

Despite this however, there will still be an enormous loan to pay back, which is why many are starting to become increasingly concerned about whether EA will ramp up its already quite aggressive monetisation efforts in its games. None of this has been confirmed as of yet, but when a company needs to pay back $20 billion, it's only natural to expect rather drastic measures.