Jared Kushner and MBS: Kotaku links gaming to $55 billion EA deal
In brief
- Kotaku says a New Yorker profile ties Jared Kushner’s gaming with Mohammed bin Salman to EA’s $55 billion buyout.
Kotaku calls the deal the largest leveraged buyout in history. It also says Kushner introduced MBS to EA CEO Andrew Wilson last August.
What happened
Kotaku is basing its report on a New Yorker profile about Jared Kushner and his diplomatic role. In that profile, Kushner is said to have had a gaming relationship with MBS, though the quoted material does not present that as an independently verified fact. In other words, the claim comes through Kotaku’s account of the New Yorker profile, not from a separate source in the text provided.
According to Kotaku, that connection existed before Kushner and MBS went into business together around the Electronic Arts purchase. The report puts the deal at $55 billion and describes it as the biggest leveraged buyout ever. Kotaku also links the transaction to Affinity and identifies Electronic Arts as the company being acquired.
Kotaku further says Kushner connected MBS with EA CEO Andrew Wilson in August last year. After that, MBS and Wilson reportedly met in Neom and played golf together. No specific games are named in the provided text, and it does not explain how often Kushner and MBS supposedly spoke through gaming.
The report also raises possible concerns about the deal because Electronic Arts handles a lot of user data. Kotaku presents that as a point of attention, not as a final regulatory outcome. The provided text does not mention any definitive approval, rejection, or conditions.
Timeline
2018: Kotaku references the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi as background to the relationship between Kushner and MBS.
August last year: Kushner reportedly introduced MBS to EA CEO Andrew Wilson.
After that: MBS and Andrew Wilson reportedly met in Neom and played golf together.
Recently in the reporting: Kotaku says MBS and a consortium including Affinity acquired Electronic Arts for $55 billion.
In the same report: the deal is described as the largest leveraged buyout in history.
In the context provided: Kotaku notes possible concerns about Electronic Arts processing user data.
Background
The core of the story comes from a New Yorker profile about Kushner, which Kotaku uses as the source for the claim about videogames with MBS. The available text does not name any specific games and does not confirm how often those meetings supposedly happened. That means the gaming detail remains a reported claim within a profile, not a separately verified fact in the material provided.
Electronic Arts is mainly part of the story because of the size of the deal and the possible concerns around user data. Kotaku does not mention a final regulatory outcome and gives no details about a definitive approval or block of the transaction. Affinity is also only mentioned in connection with the acquisition, without further explanation of the parties involved or the financing structure.
The timing in the report is limited but specific. Kotaku cites August last year as the moment Kushner put MBS in touch with Andrew Wilson, and 2018 as background because of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Neom is named as the place where MBS and Wilson reportedly met and played golf.
Because the text does not include specific game titles, an exact acquisition date, or a formal regulator decision, the report mainly revolves around three elements: the New Yorker profile, the business relationship between Kushner and MBS, and the $55 billion Electronic Arts deal. The information provided supports the link between those elements, but not much more detail than that.