Jared Kushner won Trump's first term the reputation of the man who had the ability to close the major agreements in the Middle East.
This ability, which was used in the context of official foreign policy and in the name of the public interest, however, seems to have brought valuable acquaintances, which in turn opened the way for other more personal deals.
In the White House he negotiated with princes, emirs and prime ministers, contributing to the formation of Abrahamic Agreements and cultivating personal relations in the Gulf power centres. A few years later, the same countries are the main financiers of the investment company he founded after leaving the government.
The completion of the acquisition of Electronic Arts for $55 billion now brings Kusner and Affinity Partners to the center of one of the largest corporate deals of all time.
The company behind EA Sports FC, Battlefield, The Sims and Madden NFL passes into the hands of a consortium involving Saudi State Investment Fund PIF, American Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners. EA shareholders receive $210 in cash per share and the company leaves Nasdaq. The transaction was completed on 4 August 2026, after ensuring the necessary regulatory approvals.
This is not just another investment in the video games world. It is the greatest proof to date of how Kushner transforms the political and personal relations he created in the Middle East into a global network of investment agreements.
The deal that surpasses all previous
The agreement on EA was announced in September 2025. The company's value was placed at around $55 billion, while the price of $210 per share corresponded to a premium 25% compared to the company's unaffected stock price.
The financial structure is as impressive as the size of the transaction. The consortium secured about $36.4 billion in equity, while nearly $20 billion came from a loan led by JPMorgan.
The acquisition was described as the largest everaged buyout – acquisition with a high loan – in history. The previous milestone was the acquisition of energy TXU in 2007, a $45 billion transaction that ended in bankruptcy a few years later. The comparison explains why analysts closely monitor the burden of debt that EA will be called upon to serve.
According to Reuters, the idea of the transaction began to take shape through discussions between Silver Lake and Kushner. PIF becomes the main shareholder, while Affinity's participation was estimated at around 5%, without the final allocation conditions being fully publicised in the completion notice.
Why Saudi Arabia Wants EA
For Riyadh, Electronic Arts is much more than an American video games company.
Saudi Arabia has been trying for years to turn into a global gaming and esports centre, within Vision 2030 and the strategic limitation of the dependence of the economy on oil.
Through the Savvy Games Group, PIF has already invested billions in the industry and in 2023 completed the acquisition of Scopely for $4.9 billion. With EA, however, it acquires control of a huge portfolio of sports and entertainment rights, which link gaming to football, American football, UFC and Formula 1.
The agreement is therefore part of a broader strategy: Saudi Arabia does not only buy companies. It buys content, communities of hundreds of millions of users, sports rights, know-how and influence in the global entertainment industry.
From the White House to Affinity Partners
Kusner founded Affinity Partners in 2021, after Donald Trump's first presidential term ended.
Within a few months he began seeking funding from the Gulf monarchies, presenting his company as an investment channel that could exploit the economic opportunities created by Israel's approach to Arab states.
Papers and reports showed that Affinity's presentation to potential investors referred to the Abrahamic Agreements and the Trump administration's diplomatic initiatives as elements of Kusner's particular advantage.
The Saudi PIF pledged to invest $2 billion in Affinity, making Saudi Arabia the fund's largest original fund fund fund fund fund fund fund fund. The agreement was of particular political and economic importance, as it first allowed the direction of Saudi state funds to Israeli companies through Affinity.
But the funds did not come from Riyadh alone. The fund drew money from both the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. In 2024 he secured an additional $1.5 billion from Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi's Lunate. Thus, Affinity's managed assets increased from $3 billion at the end of 2023 to $4.8 billion at the end of 2024.
The company belongs entirely to Kushner himself, according to the American regulatory records invoked by Reuters.
Saudi money in Israeli businesses
One of Affinity's key narratives was that it would create a new investment corridor between the Arab world and Israel.
The fund began examining investments in Israeli technology, financial services and mobility companies, using funds coming from the Gulf.
This is perhaps the most typical link point of Kusner's previous diplomatic activity to his later business course. Abraham's Agreements opened new trade channels between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. And Affinity appeared shortly afterwards as a private investment mechanism capable of moving on these channels.
In other words, Kushner is not just investing in the Middle East. It invests in the economic architecture itself that helped create it when it was in the White House.
REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
From technology and banks to entertainment
Affinity's portfolio has expanded beyond the Middle East, but continues to rely mainly on funds from the region.
The fund has been placed in technology, financial services, health, software and consumer businesses. In 2025 he agreed to acquire a stake of about 8% in the British digital bank OakNorth, which extends to the US.
He has also invested in the European firm fitness technology EGYM and has participated in creating business schemes around artificial intelligence.
EA, however, changes the scale. Up to now, Affinity was a relatively new private equity fund that managed several billion chapters. With its participation in the $55 billion deal, it enters the same table as PIF and one of the world's largest technology investment companies.
Real estate and resorts
Alongside Affinity, Kusner has attempted to create a second field of activity around major real estate and luxury tourist development projects.
His most talked-about plans are in the Balkans rather than the Middle East: a luxury resort on Sasson Island, Albania, and the planned reform of the former military headquarters in Belgrade.
Serbia's plan was abandoned following intense reactions, demonstrations and criminal prosecutions associated with the process of removing the protection of the site as a cultural heritage monument.
In Albania, the plan for tourist development in Sasson continues to provoke political and environmental reactions.
These investments are not Saudi state projects. However, they highlight Kusner's transition from the role of third party fund manager to the role of international developer and dealer.
The inevitable question of conflict of interest
Kusner's business activity would cause interest even without his political relationship with Donald Trump.
Its scale, however, acquires a different weight because its main investors are governments and state funds of countries with which he himself negotiated as the White House's supreme adviser.
The issue became even more complex when Kushner returned to informal or official intermediary roles in the Middle East, without leaving Affinity.
His critics, opposition officials and ethics organisations argue that at least the image of conflict of interest is created: a private investor manages billions of states whose leaderships have a direct interest in the decisions of the American government.
Ο ίδιος και η Affinity έχουν απορρίψει την υπόθεση ότι υπήρξε ανταλλαγή πολιτικών εξυπηρετήσεων με επιχειρηματική χρηματοδότηση. Ο Κούσνερ έχει υποστηρίξει ότι η εταιρεία ιδρύθηκε μετά την αποχώρησή του από τον Λευκό Οίκο και ότι οι επενδύσεις της βασίζονται σε εμπορικά κριτήρια.
Το επιχείρημα δεν κλείνει τη συζήτηση. Δείχνει, αντίθετα, πόσο δύσκολο είναι πλέον να χαραχτεί ένα καθαρό όριο ανάμεσα στην εξωτερική πολιτική, στις προσωπικές σχέσεις και στις διεθνείς επενδύσεις.
Ο μεσάζων της νέας Μέσης Ανατολής
Η μεγαλύτερη ισχύς του Τζάρεντ Κούσνερ δεν είναι απαραίτητα η ικανότητά του να εντοπίζει υποτιμημένες εταιρείες. Είναι η θέση του ανάμεσα σε διαφορετικούς κόσους.
Γνωρίζει την Ουάσιγκτον, έχει προσωπική πρόσβαση στην οικογένεια Τραμπ, συνομιλεί με τις ηγεσίες της Σαουδικής Αραβίας, του Κατάρ και των Εμιράτων, διαθέτει ισχυρές σχέσεις στο Ισραήλ και μπορεί να φέρνει στο ίδιο τραπέζι κρατικά κεφάλαια, private equity funds και αμερικανικές επιχειρήσεις.
Η EA αποτελεί την πιο εντυπωσιακή μέχρι σήμερα έκφραση αυτού του μοντέλου.
Ένα σαουδαραβικό fund με φιλοδοξίες παγκόσμιας επιρροής. Μία αμερικανική επενδυτική εταιρεία με τεράστια εμπειρία στην τεχνολογία. Και ανάμεσά τους ο πρώην σύμβουλος του Λευκού Οίκου που μετέτρεψε τις διπλωματικές διασυνδέσεις του σε fund δισεκατομμυρίων.
Η εξαγορά των 55 δισ. δολαρίων δεν είναι απλώς το μεγαλύτερο deal της καριέρας του.
Είναι η στιγμή κατά την οποία ο Τζάρεντ Κούσνερ παύει οριστικά να θεωρείται ένας πρώην πολιτικός σύμβουλος που μπήκε στις επενδύσεις και καθιερώνεται ως ένας από τους ισχυρότερους –και πέον αμφιλεγόμενους– μεσάζοντες ανάμεσα στα κεφάλαια του Κόλπου και στις μεγαλύτερες επιχειρήσεις της Δύσης.
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