EA to acquire Codemasters for $1.2 billion

Electronic Arts has reached an agreement to acquire Codemasters for approximately $1.2 billion.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in early 2021, and values the company at $7.98 per share

“Electronic Arts and Codemasters have a shared ambition to lead the video game racing category,”said Gerhard Florin, chairman of Codemasters. “The Board of Codemasters firmly believes the company would benefit from EA’s knowledge, resources and extensive global scale – both overall and specifically within the racing sector. We feel this union would provide an exciting and prosperous future for Codemasters, allowing our teams to create, launch and service bigger and better games to an extremely passionate audience.”

“We believe there is a deeply compelling opportunity in bringing together Codemasters and Electronic Arts to create amazing and innovative new racing games for fans,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts. “Our industry is growing, the racing category is growing, and together we will be positioned to lead in a new era of racing entertainment. We have admired Codemasters’ creative talent and high-quality games for many years.

“With the full leverage of EA’s technology, platform expertise, and global reach, this combination will allow us to grow our existing franchises and deliver more industry-defining racing experiences to a global fan base. We are pleased that both our Boards of Directors are recommending this transaction, and we look forward to welcoming such an exciting and talented team to the Electronic Arts family.”

Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier and CFO Rashid Varachia will both retain their roles after the acquisition, along with the rest of Codemasters’ senior executive management team.

Once the acquisition is complete, EA will have expanded its existing racing game portfolio with the likes of Formula One, Project Cars, Dirt and Grid. These IPs will join EA’s existing titles, like Need for Speed and Burnout.