Amazon Planning to Buy EA, Report Claims

By Rollin Bishop

Amazon could be looking to acquire Electronic Arts, according to a new report from USA Today's For the Win. The report claims that sources have indicated to GLHF, the Swedish media company that publishes For the Win on USA Today, that Amazon will announce a formal offer to acquire Electronic Arts today. This report follows months of reports and rumors about EA being courted by the likes of Disney, Apple, and -- yes -- Amazon.

Beyond the fact that an announcement will be made later today, the report is otherwise slim on details. There are no specifics about the financial terms or the like included. It is also worth noting that CNBC's David Faber almost immediately came out to state that sources told him that Amazon would not, in fact, acquire Electronic Arts. You can check out a clip from Faber's appearance on TV embedded below:

"EA definitely has been out there a bit in the past at least considering what it might do... You could imagine Amazon might have some interest," Faber says in the clip. "No, this is not going to happen today, is from what I'm hearing, unless the people who'd been involved previously have no idea."

The report from back in May about Electronic Arts shopping around for a buyer specifically cited the deal from earlier this year that Microsoft struck to acquire Activision for $68.7 billion. Basically, Activision getting sold like that only made EA more interested. "Several sources familiar with these talks say EA has been persistent in pursuing a sale, and has only grown more emboldened in the wake of the Microsoft-Activision deal," wrote Puck's Dylan Byers at the time.

For now, neither Amazon nor Electronic Arts have said anything officially about the acquisition. An EA spokesperson did provide the following statement to Eurogamer, however: "We don't comment on rumors and speculation relating to [mergers and acquisitions.]"

What do you think about the scuttlebutt that Amazon could announce it intends to acquire Electronic Arts as soon as today? Do you really think it will happen? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop in order to talk about all things gaming!

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