Entertainment software publisher and social media games company Electronic Arts has entered preliminary takeover discussions with leading private equity firms including KKR and Providence Equity Partners, according to reports.
The New York Post reports the leading private equity firms were told by EA executives they were willing to agree to a deal at $US20 per share, well above its closing price of $US13.77 on Friday.
Despite being the second largest competitor in the social media games market after Zynga, Electronic Arts has struggled to fully capitalise on the growth of social media gaming and mobile devices in recent years.
The latest news might be indicative of growing private equity interest in the ICT sector, coming a week after it was revealed former Telstra boss Sol Trujillo had entered into talks with KKR and Blackstone group about a possible private equity takeover of US telco T-Mobile USA.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
