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The all-cash transaction is valued at $68.7 billion, and Microsoft says it will make the company the third-largest gaming company by revenue, after Tencent and Sony.
Bobby Kotick, the controversial CEO of Activision Blizzard, will continue in his role, according to a press release detailing the announced acquisition. Activision employees had previously staged walkouts and called on Kotick to step down for having allegedly been aware of widespread harassment and discrimination problems at the company for years.
California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard in August 2021 alleging a “frat boy” work culture that subjected female employees to discrimination, sexual harassment and unequal pay. It further alleged that “the company’s executives and human resources personnel knew of the harassment and failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the unlawful conduct, and instead retaliated against women who complained.”
J. Allen Brack, Activision’s then-President, left his post following the allegations, and Activision hired an outside firm to investigate, taking cues from other corporate scandal-ridden companies like Uber.
Activision Blizzard also agreed to an $18 million settlement in September in response to a separate lawsuit from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That suit had accused the company of subjecting female employees to sexual harassment and retaliating against them for complaining about harassment, and alleged it had “discriminated against employees due to their pregnancy.”
The news follows several months of reporting about allegations of inappropriate workplace behavior by Microsoft founder and former CEO Bill Gates in the company’s earlier years. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said last year that the company’s culture had evolved since then, and emphasized its focus on diversity and inclusion.
“We believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with…
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Source : cnn
