Several groups in New York City have come together to file a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard. The group says that current Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and the board of directors sped through the deal with Microsoft in order to "escape liability for their egregious breaches of fiduciary duty."
The initial report by Axios says that this alleged breach of duty may have harmed Activision Blizzard's valuation in their negotiations and deal with Microsoft.
The lawsuit was first filed in Delaware on April 26 by members of New York City Employees' Retirement System, as well as groups involved with the pension funds for New York City's teachers, police, and firefighters. The groups own stock in Activision Blizzard and feel management's actions have hurt the value of the company.
It also says Microsoft’s $95/share offer undervalues the company, which was trading at close to that before Activision’s public scandals began last summer.
Plaintiffs in the current lawsuit say that they feel Bobby Kotick "was unfit to negotiate a sale of the company." They say that this is due to "Kotick's personal responsibility and liability for Activision's broken workplace."
Activision Blizzard did issue a brief statement in response to this new lawsuit.
We disagree with the allegations made in this complaint and look forward to presenting our arguments to the Court.
- 1 federal harassment suit (settled, though facing appeals)
- 1 discrimination suit from California
- 1 purported class action suit
- 4 shareholder lawsuits (consolidated to two)
- 8 lawsuits over the Microsoft merger (four voluntarily dismissed)
- 2 “220 complaints,†including the one from NYC
- Plus: An SEC investigation and insider trading inquiries from the SEC and Department of Justice