New York could sue Activision

New York is suing Activision Blizzard, accusing CEO Bobby Cotick of rushing to buy his company from Microsoft to avoid liability for a leak at Activision Blizzard, Axios reported Wednesday.

The New York City Employees Retirement System and the city’s teachers, police and firefighters pension fund filed a lawsuit in Delaware on April 26. These groups own shares of Activision and claim that Kotik’s actions have hurt the value of the company and therefore jeopardized their retirement. Base.

The lawsuit, technically “220 lawsuits”, allows shareholders to pressure companies to disclose their records as well as any potential crimes. Since the crash, New York has lobbied Activision for documents revealing Kotik’s knowledge of sexual misconduct within the company. He also hopes to force Activision to release information about Microsoft’s deal, information about the five potential Activision buyers described in the official statement of sales talks, memos, and more.

“Given Kotik’s personal liability and responsibility for his bungled business, it should have been clear to the board that he was unfit to negotiate the sale of the business,” the lawsuit said. “But it’s not.”

The New York lawsuit also claims the deal, in which Microsoft bought Activision for $95 a share, would be assessed by regulators if the company approved it. Stocks traded near that amount before Activision released a seemingly endless string of bad news with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing in the summer of 2021.

Activision Blizzard shareholders approved the deal with Microsoft last week. The Federal Trade Commission has yet to grant clearance, and several US senators have forced regulators to be particularly diligent about the deal.

The Wall Street Journal reported in November that Kotik became aware of Activision Blizzard’s abuse.

According to Activision’s latest quarterly report released on Tuesday, the company is facing the following complaints and investigations: