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While Activision Blizzard is currently undergoing an investigation from the FEC and a lawsuit from the State of California, it will now have to contend with a lawsuit from the City of New York as well. The lawsuit was filed by the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, a group that owns stock in Activision Blizzard, and alleges that CEO Bobby Kotick undervalued the company by selling to Microsoft for only $95 per share, which, while about $30 more than what Activision was trading for at the time of sale, is "a paltry 1.16%" above its value in the summer of 2021, before the scandals broke. The suit, as shared with Axios, claims that Kotick and the board of directors sold so quickly and for so little to avoid personal liability for the misconduct lawsuits. This fact, the suit claims, also makes Kotick unfit to manage the sale, since he "stands to personally receive substantial material benefits whose value is not directly aligned with the merger price."

The action, as described by attorney Richard Hoeg, is simply a "books and records request," meaning the plaintiff is requesting access to a list of documents from Activision Blizzard, including information on the five other potential buyers it has mentioned in the past, board memos and information regarding the Microsoft deal.

The suit also mentions the purchase of $108 million worth of Activision Blizzard stock by three associates of Kotick days before the merger was announced. The trio are estimated to have made $60 million in profit, and the sale is currently being investigated as a possible case of insider trading by both the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the Wall Street Journal. One of the three investors, Fox co-founder Barry Diller, has said the timing of the investment was just "one of those coincidences" and insists that the three of them "acted on no information of any kind from anyone."

Despite these concerns, 98% of Activision Blizzard shareholders voted to approve the merger with Microsoft in a vote on April 28. However, the deal is far from done. An unnamed source told Bloomberg in February that the Federal Trade Commission will be handling the antitrust review for the merger. FTC chair Lina Khan has been vocally critical of big tech company mergers in the past, to the point that Amazon has requested she be recused of investigations into the company.

There's plenty of action to back up her words, too. She, along with Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter of the Department of Justice, is also in the process of rewriting the merger guidelines "to better detect and prevent illegal, anticompetitive deals in today's modern markets." The FTC recently sued to block the acquisition of Arm by Nvidia, which was largely responsible for ending that deal, and are also reportedly currently in the process of investigating Sony's acquisition of Bungie.

Source

 

[chrisrlink]

I believe all the strife and division in the United States will be solved when we reach the inevitable point where every man, woman, child, corporation and government body are united in having pending litigation against Activision Blizzard and Bobby Kotick.

nah we'll be in a real life fallout game before that happens

 

[Marc_LFD]

And plenty of people right in your very own neighborhood. Most likely even on the same street.

I thought about that. Don't know if or who do.

Kiddy touchers deserve no sympathy.

 

[lordofcombo]

I think this is getting ridiculous,Kotik is not epstein,he wasn't coordinating jack shit on these sexual harassment,he might have turn the other way on few occasion,nothing cant be forgotten by few million dollars (what the plaintiffs are after in the end).
At the end of the day ,its all about money and how much these women are suing for,not matter what Lisa Khan Says,green bills talk way louder than any perceived justice.
As for that bastard kotik,they should squeeze few millions from him and live him be,his health is not the best right now.

 

[lordofcombo]

I think this is getting ridiculous,Kotik is not epstein,he wasn't coordinating jack shit on these sexual harassment,he might have turn the other way on few occasion,nothing cant be forgotten by few million dollars (what the plaintiffs are after in the end).
At the end of the day ,its all about money and how much these women are suing for,not matter what Lisa Khan Says,green bills talk way louder than any perceived justice.
As for that bastard kotik,they should squeeze few millions from him and let him be.

 

[nikeymikey]

I think this is getting ridiculous,Kotik is not epstein,he wasn't coordinating jack shit on these sexual harassment,he might have turn the other way on few occasion,nothing cant be forgotten by few million dollars (what the plaintiffs are after in the end).
At the end of the day ,its all about money and how much these women are suing for,not matter what Lisa Khan Says,green bills talk way louder than any perceived justice.
As for that bastard kotik,they should squeeze few millions from him and live him be,his health is not the best right now.

I think this is getting ridiculous,Kotik is not epstein,he wasn't coordinating jack shit on these sexual harassment,he might have turn the other way on few occasion,nothing cant be forgotten by few million dollars (what the plaintiffs are after in the end).
At the end of the day ,its all about money and how much these women are suing for,not matter what Lisa Khan Says,green bills talk way louder than any perceived justice.
As for that bastard kotik,they should squeeze few millions from him and let him be.

Did you change your avatar just for this double post?

On topic...

Regardless of all the lawsuits, I still think the sale is a good thing for all involved for various reasons...

• Its a pseudo reset for Actizard, a chance for a new workplace culture under the MS umbrella.
• Its good for MS due to the various IP's owned (COD etc) and also dont forget King (Candy Crush Etc) which will give MS a nice market share in the mobile game space.
• Its good for Xbox/PC gamers as its very likely that the back catalogue will all appear on Game Pass asap just like with Bethesda.

MS and their lawyers will of likely been over as many possible outcomes of the original lawsuits before the deal was agreed and came to the conclusion that they can deal with it in some way or another.

 

[ChiefReginod]

Man, Hollywood and the rest of the industry are full of kiddy touchers and sexual abusers.

This. It's not even surprising anymore.

 

[lordofcombo]

Sexual harassment is the new fade.
Flirting becomes rape and polically correctness is the norm . I pity peoples living in these societies.

 

[MikaDubbz]

And plenty of people right in your very own neighborhood. Most likely even on the same street.

Yeah, this is the sad scary truth. These people are everywhere and of all levels of society. This isn't special to celebrities or CEOs, you just only ever really hear about them because those stories make the news. The media doesn't give a shit if the creep down the street in a rundown shack is also a diddler, because who the hell is that guy to begin with?

 

[omgcat]

It's not that hard to leave a phone camera/mic on.

this is illegal and unusable in court in 2 party consent states. actibliz is located in CA so

California makes it a crime to record or eavesdrop on any confidential communication, including a private conversation or telephone call, without the consent of all parties to the conversation. See Cal. Penal Code § 632.

 

[AndorfRequissa]

found an interview with Kotick and Phil
i hate their fake corporate looks and smiles

kotick looks really worried after seeing phil

i listened to the interview and boy are these corporate people so off. I dont know anyone clamouring for the "metaverse" and personally I think companies trying to push that idea are the most evil sickening controlling companies around who are doing what they want to enslave and control people and not what the consumers want.

curse the metaverse and those involved.

 

[Creamu]

I dont know guys. There is something very odd about this person. Funny guy. I dont trust him.

 

[CoolMe]

Oh no! Though what's their (MS) stance in all of this?

 

[codezer0]

OF COURSE he was trying to escape liability. Anyone thinking he wouldn't try to use this sale as a means of getting out of legal trouble, I have a tailor-made scam to sell you.

 

[64bitmodels]

frankly at this point the only way i think bobby kotick could truly be redeemed for his actions is through outright old fashioned capital punishment. Being this much of a lying swindling devious cunt, he can't leave with his life, let alone all his finances and a golden parachute

 

[Deleted member 532471]

How can a real person look so much like the Leprechaun from the horror movie Leprechaun

 

[Stone_Wings]

Yeah, this is the sad scary truth. These people are everywhere and of all levels of society. This isn't special to celebrities or CEOs, you just only ever really hear about them because those stories make the news. The media doesn't give a shit if the creep down the street in a rundown shack is also a diddler, because who the hell is that guy to begin with?

100%. The exact point I was making. You just made it a bit better.

 

[Slinger]

Excuse me, but has the image been photoshopped? He's missing his devil horns.

 

[Glyptofane]

I wish something like this would happen to EA... and that's actually going easy on them as far as I'm concerned!

I mean I do hate them and all, but would really prefer they go down for real reasons rather than manufactured nonsense that sets a bad precedent for everyone else.

 

[Maq47]

I mean I do hate them and all, but would really prefer they go down for real reasons rather than manufactured nonsense that sets a bad precedent for everyone else.

Manufactured nonsense like microtransactions?

 

[urbanman2004]

I'm pretty sure the board of directors would've relinquished his duties as CEO a long time had Activision not been making a profit. No wonder they're so prone to turn a blind eye whenever controversy surrounding Kotick makes headlines for the umpteenth time .