New York City takes Activision to court

The title is impressive, but unfortunately, Activision is now accustomed to this type of procedure. The company is indeed already prosecuted by the state of California or the local equivalent of the labor inspectorate, in addition to everything else.

So what else is going on? It was the municipal organization in charge of the pensions of New York City teachers, police officers and firefighters who filed a complaint against the studios. An organization that owns shares Activision and who, as such, is entitled to hold his management accountable. The organization indeed accuses the leaders of having caused the company (and therefore its shares) to lose value. Targeted : Bobby Kotick.

“Because of the personal responsibility of Kotick in the collapse of working conditions at Activisionit should have been obvious to the Board of Directors that it was unable to conduct the negotiations leading to the sale of the company,” the complaint reads.

We recently learned that negotiations to buy the company started immediately after the Activision/ Kotick. It was on November 16 that the Wall Street Journal published the article revealing that Kotick was aware of the harassment cases within his company, and that he knowingly decided to cover them up. The action immediately lost $10. November 18, Phil Spencer published an internal note – which will have opportunely leaked… – stating that the situation had disturbed him, and that he intended to review Xbox’s relations with Activision. The very next day, he made a phone call (no pun intended…) to Kotick which would result in the $68 billion deal.

It is said everywhere that Kotick saw in this deal a nice way out, and a way to get out of trouble without accountability. A readiness that would have led him to accept an unfavorable market for his company. In any case, this is the accusation made by the city of New York.

It is almost twenty lawsuits that must now respond Kotick and Activision. Even with his golden parachute, it’s getting harder and harder to believe the ex-strongman will get away with it unscathed. Not to mention that doubt is beginning to hang over the feasibility of Microsoft’s acquisition of ActiBlizz, which would put both Kotick and Activision in a very uncomfortable position.

–