> no sense in buying up that company.

if the new buyers think the old owners have a lower expectation of future earnings than them, then the buy makes sense.

Often the buying company brings synergies from their own company that unlocks extra value (in theory).

I happen to be a shareholder in EA as part of a diversified portfolio. Not that my vote matters but I'll definitely be taking PE money. +20% in one day is nothing to sneeze at.

From the other comments about EA's games, it's not like EA is that special of a company. There's always going to be some other company (not necessarily an AAA-games maker) worth putting your capital in and end up doing as well as what the hypothetical EA could do if it were not taken private. (Obviously finding such market-outperformer isn't easy but by the same argument I'm not convinced that EA would be obviously that outperformer either.)