The buyout of Electronic Arts is now complete, and it looks as if some serious decisions are now going to have to be made just to cover interest debt payments. The deal, reportedly said to be worth $18 billion, is said to have incurred a roughly $1.8 billion annual interest payment from EA. As scary as that number may be to some, there’s still more to consider, as Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has concluded that EA’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) are around $1.5 billion, meaning there’s still more needed to meet the annual debt payment. So where to get the missing funds from? Well, layoffs, of course.
EA’s annual Ebitda is around $1.5 billion, which should be enough to service the interest payments. But the publisher has told debt investors that it will cut $700 million in annual costs including $170 million in “organizational efficiencies,” per Bloomberg. In other words: mass layoffs
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) August 4, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Sadly, it is a sort of water-is-wet moment since many already expected a similar scenario to play out. The only real difference here is that rather than getting the usual corpo speak from those making the purchase stating it’s the beginning of a new era for gamers with better value, only to be followed by layoffs, it looks as if EA will be the one to make this move on its own. Meanwhile, as reported by VGC, EA has already been cutting staff, around 300-400, which included 100 at Respawn Entertainment. In addition, staff who worked on Battlefield 6 and a now-canceled Titanfall project- Criterion, Motive, Ripple Effect, and Dice were let go. It’s probably an understatement to say that any remaining staff at EA are now thinking heavily about their future employment status with the publisher. However, AI overlords are likely safe from any loss and poised to make epic profits for their new stakeholders.
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