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Activision Blizzard is being sued by the New York City pension funds, so it will be forced to reveal its chief executive officer Bobby Kotick’s records. This move from the fund officials is to find out if the company’s CEO breached his fiduciary duty to investors or not.
The New York City pension fund filed the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard late last month, as per CNN Business. In the released copy of the complaint by the New York City Employees' Retirement System and pension funds representing the teachers, firefighters, and police in the city, they want to open Activision Blizzard’s books to prove if Kotick negotiated the company's $68.7 billion sale to Microsoft as a way to geta away from liability that arose from allegations that he ignored the harassment claims of employees for years.
The funds are one of Activision Blizzard’s investors, and they are claiming that Kotick’s and the firm’s board’s misconduct in the workplace has damaged and weakened the shareholder value.
In the legal filing, part of the complainants’ statement reads, “Thanks to the Microsoft deal, Kotick will be able to escape liability and accountability entirely, and will instead continue to serve as an executive after the Merger closes.”
They added, “Worse, despite his potential liability for breaches of fiduciary duty, the Board allowed Kotick himself to negotiate the transaction with Microsoft.”
They explained that the board’s decision to put the negotiation process in the hands of Kotick is inexcusable because Kotick also stands to get substantial benefits “whose value is not directly aligned with the Merger price." It was stated in the complaint that the Activision Blizzard CEO stands to receive a $22 million bonus for being able to achieve workplace culture goals.
The New York Times reported that the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard was filed in state court in Delaware. The New York groups cannot look into the gaming company’s corporate records to see if there was really a breach on Kotick’s part. The suit comes as Activision refused to turn over the books for review.
Finally, in response to the lawsuit, Activision Blizzard said that it disagreed with the allegations and it would be presenting its own arguments to the court.
