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A line chart that tracks annual take-private deal flow from 2019 to 2025. Deal values range from $65.8 billion in 2020 to $200.3 billion in 2021. Deal counts vary between 53 in 2025 and 98 in 2024. Deal values peaked in 2021, while deal counts peaked in 2024.

Take-private deal flow

The roughly $55 billion buyout of Electronic Arts is inflating take-private deal value to heights not seen since 2021.  

The big picture: A handful of huge deals are plumping up take-private value for 2025. 

Driving the news: EA, a gaming giant, agreed to be whisked off public markets by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake Partners, and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners.

The deal stands to surpass the largest-ever leveraged buyout to close: the $32 billion purchase of Texas utility company TXU in 2007, per WSJ.

By the numbers: Total announced take-private deal value for 2025 now sits at $186 billion, across just 53 deals, per PitchBook.

That's trending closer to the roughly $200 billion in take-privates recorded in 2021 and 2022.  

But 2021 saw 91 such deals, and 2022 saw 79.

Zoom in: So far this year, there have been six take-private deals valued at over $5 billion.

Walgreens Boots Alliance was taken private by Sycamore Partners earlier this year for nearly $24 billion, but a hefty debt-package and CEO stake could push the total enterprise value to over $39 billion, according to PitchBook's calculations.

PE giant Thoma Bravo has led multiple take-privates this year, including a $12.3 billion bid for HR software provider Dayforce. 

Media metrics company Nielsen also agreed in March to a $10 billion offer from a buyer group including Elliott and Brookfield Asset Management.

What they're saying: "The markets are waving the green flag in terms of risk appetite," Kyle Walters, a PitchBook private equity analyst, tells Axios Pro.

"They have greater clarity in terms of what the tariff implications were. They know where interest rates are going. They just have a better sense of what the market is going to look like in the next year or two," Walters says.

The bottom line: Don't be surprised if another massive take-private makes headlines this year.

EA buyout pushes take-privates close to 2021 levels

Expect more take-private deals to follow.

The roughly $55 billion <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="buyout of Electronic Arts" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2025/09/29/electronic-arts-saudi-arabia-silver-lake" data-vars-content-id="c5b4ebbb-a68b-4d34-b54a-952bd107178e" data-vars-headline="EA buyout pushes take-privates close to 2021 levels" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2025/09/29/electronic-arts-saudi-arabia-silver-lake" target="_self">buyout of Electronic Arts</a> is inflating take-private deal value to heights not seen since 2021. The big picture: A handful of huge deals are plumping up take-private value for 2025.

EA buyout pushes take-privates close to 2021 levels

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