July 13th, 2011 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »
EA has announced the acquisitioin of PopCap Games, one of the leading casual and mobile gaming studios. With the acquisition, EA extends it’s mobile/casual portfolio.
EA will pay $650 million in cash and $100 million in shares. Depending on the performance of the first two years within EA, the management of PopCap games can add an earn-out bonus of up to $550 million.
“EA and PopCap are a compelling combination,” said EA CEO John Riccitiello. “PopCap’s great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA’s momentum and accelerate our drive towards a $1 billion digital business. EA’s global studio and publishing network will help PopCap rapidly expand their business to more digital devices, more countries, and more channels.”
“We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games,” said David Roberts, CEO of PopCap. “By working with EA, we’ll scale our games and services to deliver more social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience.”
“PopCap has a proven financial trajectory with sustained revenue growth and double-digit operating margins,” said EA CFO Eric Brown. “On a non-GAAP basis, this deal is expected to be at least ten-cents accretive in fiscal year 2013.”
Earlyer, EA bought mobile distributor Chillingo and mobile/social gaming studio PlayFish.
