The video game publisher now has two lawsuits to deal with.
Video game publisher Activision Blizzard is currently in the midst of an ever-escalating legal conflict with both the state of California and its own workforce. After a two-year investigation into the company yielded numerous stories and reports of severe sexual harassment and power harassment within the company’s ranks, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit to hold Activision Blizzard responsible, all while employees stage protests and walkouts over the same concerns. As it turns out, keeping these workplace violations under wraps wasn’t only a poor decision from a moral standpoint, but a financial one as well.
A coalition of Activision Blizzard investors have filed a second lawsuit against the company in the US District Court of Central California. The grounds for this new suit are that Activision Blizzard’s deliberate choice not to disclose the existence of the two-year investigation and its subject matter were an intentional act of misinformation aimed at investors. If these investors were aware the situation had gotten this bad, they would not have invested.
Anyone who invested in Activision Blizzard securities between August 4, 2016 and July 27, 2021 qualify for the lawsuit, which is seeking damages from the company for issuing false and misleading statements. In addition to the company itself, the suit directly targets its CEO Bobby Kotick, CFO Dennis Durkin, and former CFO Spencer Neumann.
The class action lawsuit alleges that Activision Blizzard misled investors by not disclosing the issues with its workplace culturehttps://t.co/cKiS4pHJzO
— GamesIndustry (@GIBiz) August 4, 2021
Since the announcement of the first lawsuit, Activision Blizzard’s stocks have been in a death spiral as more worrying stories about its extremely toxic workplace surface. Investors are frustrated with the company’s decisions and lack of transparency. If their Q2 earnings don’t show any tangible progress, they could start bleeding investors rapidly.