It’s official: EA is going private.
The leveraged buyout will be financed by a staggering $20 billion of debt, which likely means some *aggressive* cost cutting is ahead for EA in the coming months and years.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250929186526/en/EA-Announces-Agreement-to-be-Acquired-by-PIF-Silver-Lake-and-Affinity-Partners-for-%2455-Billion
In a deal involving a company owned by Jared Kushner, a company that is basically just the Saudis, and $20B of debt.
The reason Steam is less bad is that its president is less of a dick. The reason that works is because he’s not beholden to other shareholders, because he’s the majority owner himself. If they were publicly owned, he wouldn’t have the liberties to make long-term decisions instead of (only) short-term money grabs.
But his decisions most likely aren’t the result of some bleeding heart morality so much as a less shortsighted profit calculation. Newell is still a billionaire, and not just because of the assets Valve owns. He apparently has several ships, which is several more than most people can afford. He also owns a custom yacht manufacturing company, which is also a lot more than most people can afford (both the products and the company). He might not be as all-around awful as other billionaires, but you don’t get this rich through your own work alone.
Private ownership isn’t a guarantor of customer-friendly behaviour. It just eliminates one factor forcing companies to prioritise profits, but it can’t replace customer protection regulations and oversight.
Gabe Newell is basically a benevolent dictator. Valve is proof that private companies have the potential to not completely suck and publicly traded ones basically always seem to suck.
The issue at any scale beyond “local store” is that eventually your customers and transactions become impersonal numbers on a sheet. It’s hard to remember the human on the other side when there’s just too many of them for our brain to actually process as such.
At that point, the drive for profit inherent to our system and essential for subsistence can’t be checked by intuitive empathy alone any more. It requires conscious effort, diligent reflection and the will to be customer-friendly.
When the least scrupulous end up having the most money and owning majorities of private companies, it’s hardly any wonder most of them suck.
Well, I can probably afford a small RC boat or something. Not quite the same caliber that could carry humans on the ocean, but more than nothing I guess.
Dangit, now I want to look up how much a model yacht would cost and if I could afford to brag “I’ve got a small fleet of yachts”…
The reason Steam is less bad is that its president is less of a dick. The reason that works is because he’s not beholden to other shareholders, because he’s the majority owner himself. If they were publicly owned, he wouldn’t have the liberties to make long-term decisions instead of (only) short-term money grabs.
But his decisions most likely aren’t the result of some bleeding heart morality so much as a less shortsighted profit calculation. Newell is still a billionaire, and not just because of the assets Valve owns. He apparently has several ships, which is several more than most people can afford. He also owns a custom yacht manufacturing company, which is also a lot more than most people can afford (both the products and the company). He might not be as all-around awful as other billionaires, but you don’t get this rich through your own work alone.
Private ownership isn’t a guarantor of customer-friendly behaviour. It just eliminates one factor forcing companies to prioritise profits, but it can’t replace customer protection regulations and oversight.
Gabe Newell is basically a benevolent dictator. Valve is proof that private companies have the potential to not completely suck and publicly traded ones basically always seem to suck.
Its just that usually private ones suck as well.
The issue at any scale beyond “local store” is that eventually your customers and transactions become impersonal numbers on a sheet. It’s hard to remember the human on the other side when there’s just too many of them for our brain to actually process as such.
At that point, the drive for profit inherent to our system and essential for subsistence can’t be checked by intuitive empathy alone any more. It requires conscious effort, diligent reflection and the will to be customer-friendly.
When the least scrupulous end up having the most money and owning majorities of private companies, it’s hardly any wonder most of them suck.
That number for the rest of us being, of course, none.
Well, I can probably afford a small RC boat or something. Not quite the same caliber that could carry humans on the ocean, but more than nothing I guess.
Dangit, now I want to look up how much a model yacht would cost and if I could afford to brag “I’ve got a small fleet of yachts”…