Silver Lake, PIF held talks to buy Unity, sources say

Unity Software ↗ 5.51% has recently held talks about being acquired by a group of investors that includes private equity firm Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. Reuters reported the talks on Thursday, November 5, citing people familiar with the matter. The two firms helped take Electronic Arts private in a $55 billion deal that closed in August. A Unity deal would put another large piece of the video game business under the same owners, this time the engine many developers use to build their games.reuters.com

According to Reuters, the group discussed a valuation of about $25 billion before Unity's latest earnings report pushed its market value to roughly $21.5 billion. Silver Lake already owns about 8% of Unity. It and PIF approached the company in recent weeks, and Unity has been working with an investment bank to weigh its options. The sources said no deal is certain and the terms could still change. Unity declined to comment, and Silver Lake and PIF did not immediately respond to Reuters.reuters.com

Shares Climb After Earnings

The report came at the end of a strong day for the stock. Investing.com said Unity shares rose nearly 15% in regular trading on Thursday after the company reported earnings, then rose further in extended trading once the Reuters story was published. Unity's third-quarter revenue grew 32% to $622.1 million, and adjusted earnings came to 44 cents per share, both ahead of analyst estimates. The company also posted its first quarterly profit under standard accounting rules (GAAP) since its September 2020 IPO, helped by its AI-powered Vector advertising platform, Reuters reported. Inven Global put Unity's GAAP net income for the quarter at $122 million.ph.investing.com+2

Long-Standing Ties

Silver Lake has backed Unity for years. It invested up to $400 million in the company in 2017 and is still one of its largest shareholders. Silver Lake's Egon Durban also sits on Unity's board, and Reuters noted that board members in that position usually step back from board discussions about a sale. Unity's tools are already used by Scopely, the developer of "Monopoly Go!", and by Niantic, which makes "Pokémon Go." A group that includes PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners owns both companies. PIF has also worked with Unity through its Savvy Games Group, which signed an agreement in August 2025 to give Saudi developers access to Unity's tools, Everything Edinburgh reported.everythingedinburgh.com+1

If a deal goes through, it would take private one of the largest makers of real-time 3D software and rank among the biggest leveraged buyouts in software in recent years, according to Reuters. Unity's technology is also used in car design, filmmaking and architecture.reuters.com