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Activision Blizzard is now also being sued by an investor. As of Tuesday, August 3, an investor told federal securities fraud claims in Los Angeles that the company kept investors and shareholders in the dark about an ongoing investigation into its toxic workplace culture. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. This suit not only targets the company but also Activision Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick, their CFO, and former CFO.
The entire investor suit can be found via Bloomberg Law if you care to read through it yourself.
The lawsuit claims that Activision Blizzard stuffed its regular securities filings "with vague disclosures about 'routine' legal claims to deflect attention from the existential threat posed by an investigation into its 'frat boy' culture by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing." Once the lawsuit was actually disclosed in late July, the stock price of Activision Blizzard plunged, which led to a "precipitous decline in the market value."
This investor lawsuit claims that Activision Blizzard failed to disclose "numerous complaints about unlawful harassment." The suit says that the company knew that "the pervasive culture of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation would result in serious impairments" to operations.
This lawsuit is looking for "damages, costs, and fees" for Activision Blizzard investors that acquired stock between May 2017 and January 2019.
This new lawsuit from an Activision Blizzard lawsuit comes the same day that Blizzard president J. Allen Brack parted ways from the company and the same day in which Activision Blizzard employees announced the ABK Workers Alliance.
If this investigation was known about while it was happening, it is believed that the stock prices would not have been as high as they were during that span of time. This may have pushed potential investors away from buying stock in the company. It may have also pushed existing investors to sell before they took a major hit... like the one they did when this news broke at the end of July: https://i.imgur.com/NsKLo0W.png