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Reports: EA set to be sold to private investors for up to $50B

arstechnica.com

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Re: Reports: EA set to be sold to private investors for up to $50B

#31

Post by baxtr »

modeless wrote: post #11
willio58 wrote: post #4

Can someone explain to me how a public company can go private and there’s no fear of outcry from the shareholders in said company? Like companies do all these evil things to please shareholders but wouldn’t many shareholders of a public company be against the transition back to private?

They generally pay a premium to the stock price before the transaction is announced, which means shareholders get more than the market value of their investment, which they can immediately roll into other investments. Usually people don't mind getting paid extra.

Yes but they also lose any potential gains in value after the transaction.

Not being able to participate in a private company’s growth is something I find pretty annoying.

For myself but also for society.

Re: Reports: EA set to be sold to private investors for up to $50B

#32

Post by horsawlarway »

baxtr wrote: post #31
modeless wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They generally pay a premium to the stock price before the transaction is announced, which means shareholders get more than the market value of their investment, which they can immediately roll into other investments. Usually people don't mind getting paid extra.

Yes but they also lose any potential gains in value after the transaction. Not being able to participate in a private company’s growth is something I find pretty annoying. For myself but also for society.

Yeah... But society doesn't really have this problem.

Plenty of ways to invest in private companies. You just need wealth and connections.

Re: Reports: EA set to be sold to private investors for up to $50B

#34

Post by vorpalhex »

MadVikingGod wrote: post #30

So will this make EA less evil or more? They have shepherded so many great IPs, but also have been on the forefront of sleaze practices. There has to be plenty of money just squeezing those IPs or using the talent in making new things, but I have the feeling that we are going to see more of the same thing with super micro transactions.

Taking an entity private is expensive and typically only done if you intend to change the direction the entity is heading in a way that shareholders won't accept.

Accelerating EAs enshittification seems like it wouldn't require taking them private.

Rather it seems like the investors intend for a change in direction. What that is remains to be seen, but I read this as hopeful, not harmful.

Re: Reports: EA set to be sold to private investors for up to $50B

#35

Post by baxtr »

horsawlarway wrote: post #32
baxtr wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but they also lose any potential gains in value after the transaction. Not being able to participate in a private company’s growth is something I find pretty annoying. For myself but also for society.

Yeah... But society doesn't really have this problem. Plenty of ways to invest in private companies. You just need wealth and connections.

> You just need wealth and connections.

That’s exactly the problem I’m talking about. Public companies create more equality.

Re: Reports: EA set to be sold to private investors for up to $50B

#36

Post by abduhl »

baxtr wrote: post #31
modeless wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They generally pay a premium to the stock price before the transaction is announced, which means shareholders get more than the market value of their investment, which they can immediately roll into other investments. Usually people don't mind getting paid extra.

Yes but they also lose any potential gains in value after the transaction. Not being able to participate in a private company’s growth is something I find pretty annoying. For myself but also for society.

This is just your gambling addiction showing itself. There may not be any potential gains in value after the transaction. In fact, most take privates result in massive up front losses for the new owners.

And anyways, shareholders are paid a premium on today’s stock price (which theoretically reflects the current value of future profits, or at least the market’s view on it) in order to compensate for the exact loss you mention.

Re: Reports: EA set to be sold to private investors for up to $50B

#38

Post by zaptheimpaler »

baxtr wrote: post #31
modeless wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They generally pay a premium to the stock price before the transaction is announced, which means shareholders get more than the market value of their investment, which they can immediately roll into other investments. Usually people don't mind getting paid extra.

Yes but they also lose any potential gains in value after the transaction. Not being able to participate in a private company’s growth is something I find pretty annoying. For myself but also for society.

It would be nice to have more diversity in models of ownership and profit-sharing widely used in the market. Like Meta's split between voting shares and non-voting shares which lets them keep control of the company but let shareholders participate in the economic gains. There could be other models, like what if any single person could only own X shares and voting shares were only allowed to be bought by/on behalf of individuals not companies. Maybe models of ownership where the executives don't have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profit and instead have more latitude on how they choose to run it.

Re: Reports: EA set to be sold to private investors for up to $50B

#40

Post by pm90 »

What this shows quite clearly is that petrostates have too much money and power. Its astonishing how many crucial sectors of the American economy have significant Gulf investment; and may soon be completely controlled by them.

The only rational way I see out of this is to move to Renewable energy and eliminate the worlds dependence on fossil fuels.

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