According to the lawsuits filed by two of the shareholders of ActivisionBlizzardagainst the publisher of Call of Dutyfor making allegedly inappropriate disclosures in his recent filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission about his agreement to sell Microsoft for $68.7 billion dollarswhere investors allege that the CEO Bobby Kotickamong others could create a massive conflict of interest in the company.
the shareholder kyle watsonfiled a lawsuit in California last Thursday, February 24, where he calls on the recent statements of power of several hundred pages of ActivisionBlizzard to Securities and Exchange Commissionbecause according to what they say, it is described in their proposed agreement with microsoft as misleading and incomplete.
All this, based on the fact that said treaty shows differences that do not seem congruent between the executives and members of the board of ActivisionBlizzardso the lawyers of Watson They argue that the company is trying to hide and leave behind some information about how the deal came about and who will continue to be employed after the deal is done.
Now too, Shiva Stein filed a second shareholder lawsuit with similar claims, and in response a spokesperson for ActivisionBlizzard he said in an interview with Polygon: “We do not agree with the accusations made in this complaint and we hope to present our arguments before the Court”.
These demands have a degree of reason, because while after the sale of the company kotick and the rest of his C-suite have been forewarned and if the deal with microsoft is carried out, they would mostly benefit, kotick He could receive up to $22 million if the company’s board of directors (many of whom are his friends) decides he has done enough to fix the years of workplace abuse that allegedly occurred under his watch.
From there comes to light some of the other massive payouts for executives if they stay six to eight months after the deal goes through:
- CFO Armin Zerza: $25.3 million
- COO Daniel Alegre: $29.1 million
- Managing Director Brian Bulatao: $11.3 million
- General Counsel Grant D ixton: $14.7 million.
Emphasizing that shareholders such as Bulatao and Dixtonhave not completed a year within ActivisionBlizzardgiven that Bulatao joined in March 2021 and Dixton arrived in June 2021 to replace Chris Walter, the former legal director who conspicuously ended his more than decade-long tenure the month before the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed its lawsuit alleging pervasive sexual harassment. and discrimination in the company.