Unity Shares Jump 15% as Takeover Talks Consider Valuation Near $25 Billion
Key Facts
Unity Software shares rose about 15% during regular trading on Thursday, November 5, 2026, then gained 6.6% in extended trading to $52.04 by 19:16 Eastern time after Reuters reported that the company had held takeover talks with a group including Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Investing.com carried the report from Reuters, which said the group had approached the video game software company in recent weeks. The report framed the news as a potential acquisition move, but did not cite an agreed share price or a final announced offer. It also said Unity had hired an investment bank to assess its options after receiving the approach. Discussions remained preliminary, with no guarantee a deal would be completed and potential terms still subject to change.
Reuters, citing two people familiar with the confidential discussions, said Silver Lake and the Public Investment Fund had discussed a valuation of about $25 billion before Unity released its latest results. After the results, the company’s market value stood at about $21.5 billion, according to the same report. The figures describe different stages: the first was a valuation discussed by the investor group before the results announcement, and the second was the company’s market value afterward. Neither represents a confirmed price for a final offer, as the report did not cite an agreed share price or a specific premium. That means the valuation discussed in the talks remained an initial estimate within negotiations whose terms had not been settled.
Silver Lake already held a stake of about 8% in Unity at the time the report was published, making it an existing investor in the group that entered takeover talks. The move brings Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund together with the private equity firm, according to Reuters. The published information did not specify the fund’s stake in Unity, details of proposed financing or how ownership would be divided among the group’s members. The report also did not announce a binding agreement or a timeline for completing a deal. Investing.com said Unity declined to comment, while Silver Lake and the fund did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to the Reuters report.
The takeover talks followed third-quarter results that lifted Unity’s market value to about $21.5 billion, according to the report. The company’s earlier second-quarter results provide context on its business growth: strategic revenue was $486.411 million, up 38% year over year, while total revenue rose 24% to $546.468 million. These figures show revenue expansion in the prior period, before the third-quarter results that preceded the report on the talks. In its second-quarter presentation, Unity also reported that strategic revenue had risen from $351.939 million in the same period a year earlier, and total revenue had increased from $440.944 million. The presentation of these earlier quarterly figures does not include details of third-quarter performance cited in the takeover report.
In trading, the stock posted its largest reported gain during regular trading, rising about 15% on Thursday, before extending its advance to $52.04 in extended trading. The gain in extended trading was 6.6% by 19:16 Eastern time, according to figures Investing.com attributed to Reuters. The stock’s move coincided with the takeover-talks report and the release of third-quarter results, but the coverage does not quantify how much each factor contributed to the price change. It also does not establish a psychological explanation for investor behavior. The outcome of the investment move remains uncertain until Unity’s options and the terms of any potential agreement become clear.