If you shop in the supermarket, at the front of the store are magazines and many of them feature Hollywood stars. Many go to the movies, watch movies and the magazines are a staple for customers. The reality is more money is spent on gaming than people going to Hollywood. Although more males game then females, anyone who does game is passionate about the game they play, the console they play with, and the list goes on. There is a reason Microsoft owns Xbox and acquired Activision Blizzard.

In an article from the Associated Press, the largest-ever buyout funded by private equity firms is with Electronic Arts from a public company to a private company for $55 billion including debt. The companies involved are Silver Lake Partners, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF and Affinity Partners. The private equity partnership is offering $210 a share.

Silver Lake Partners is co-headed by Egon Durban who has been looking at EA for years, teamed up with Jared Kushner of Affinity Partners who made the deal happen. PIF already owns 9.9% of EA. Among the many investments PIF has is a minority investor of Nintendo.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the use of private equity is expected to increase and some of that will be take public companies private. If you own a profit-making company, then at some level private equity is interested particularly if the returns are good for dividends but not dramatic for growth that private equity wants to see. It is another good reason to own profit making companies.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.