Electronic Arts Acquires Glu Mobile For $2.1 Billion

And so the age-old tale of big companies gobbling up smaller ones continues. Electronic Arts has just announced that they’ve reached an agreement with Glu Mobile to acquire the American mobile games developer for $2.1 billion.

Glu shareholders will receive $12.50 for each share which, according to GamesIndustry.biz, is a 36% premium over Glu’s closing stock price last Friday. The deal is valued at $2.4 billion but Glu will retain $364 million in net cash.

Glu has offices in San Francisco, Foster City, Toronto, and Hyderabad with nearly 800 employees, 500 of which are developers. They are best known for their casual mobile games, including Diner Dash, Deer Hunter, Design Home, Disney Sorcerer’s Arena, Kim Kardashian Hollywood, MLB Tap Sports Baseball, and Covet Fashion.

EA said that the acquisition of Glu will allow them to reach a demographically diverse audience and cover the largest mobile game genres. The company also said that they’re looking to combine Glu’s expertise in monetizing casual and sports mobile games with their industry-leading IPs.

“Our acquisition of Glu combines amazing teams and deeply-engaging products to create a mobile games leader with proven expertise across many fast-growing genres,” said EA CEO Andrew Wilson. “Mobile continues to grow as the biggest gaming platform in the world, and with the addition of Glu's games and talent, we're doubling the size of our mobile business. With a deep IP portfolio and an expanding global audience, we'll deliver more exciting experiences for our players and drive further growth for Electronic Arts.”

EA said that they’re expecting to generate more revenue this year with the addition of more than 15 Glu live services. Glu’s mobile titles brought in $544 million in combined bookings last year while EA’s mobile IPs brought in $779 million during the same time frame.

The deal is expected to push through at the end of the Q2 2021 fiscal quarter on June 31.