A New Lawsuit Calls the Handling of Microsoft’s Activision Merger ‘Inexcusable’
The Activision-Blizzard shareholders’ response to a whirlwind of news over the past year—which include disturbing, company-wide allegations of sexual harassment and pay disparity, followed by a $68.7 billion acquisition proposal—reached a new head at the end of April in the form of a sweeping lawsuit.
As first reported by Axios on Wednesday, the April 26 civil suit, as filed by the New York City Employees’ Retirement System and other NYC retirement and pension systems, hinges upon allegations that Activision-Blizzard has failed to properly open its books. Its plaintiffs, which include longstanding Activision-Blizzard shareholders, contend in Delaware court that fuller disclosure from Activision-Blizzard is required to answer their allegations about “breaches of fiduciary duty.”
Those include the shareholders’ belief that executives acted in their own interests, as opposed to those of company shareholders, in failing for years to inform them about the original California state lawsuit’s allegations. The suit also alleges that the board is accelerating efforts to complete a proposed merger with Microsoft to “extinguish highly valuable derivative claims” against all Activision-Blizzard board members and longtime company CEO Bobby Kotick.
