Activision Blizzard is facing another lawsuit resulting from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing lawsuit filed in July alleging widespread discrimination, sexual harassment and a “frat boy” culture across the company become. Somewhat confusing is that this new lawsuit, available through Ars Technica, is not being filed on behalf of employees, but rather by shareholders who allegedly suffered losses because Activision Blizzard failed to disclose that they are under investigation.
The lawsuit, which cites Activision Blizzard as the company and cites CEO Bobby Kotick, CFO Dennis Durkin and former CFO Spencer Neumann as individual defendants, alleges that the company made “false and misleading information” between August 4, 2016 and July 27. made, 2021, in SEC filings that failed to disclose that the company was, in fact, a hostile workplace for women and minorities, that its HR department had received numerous complaints over the years, and that the DFEH opened an investigation as a result .
“As a result, Defendants’ statements about Activision Blizzard’s business, business and prospects were materially false and misleading and / or were inadequate at all relevant times,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also states that since the DFEH lawsuit was filed, more than 2,000 current and former employees have signed a letter condemning the company’s initial response to the lawsuit and that there are plans for a strike on July 27 were announced. As a result, Activision Blizzard shares fell more than 6% that day, causing a loss for investors who bought shares in the company at “artificially inflated” prices based on misleading statements by executives and companies.
“Had the plaintiff and the other members of the class had known that the market price of Activision Blizzard securities was artificially and incorrectly increased by Defendants’ misleading statements and material adverse information that Defendants did not disclose they did not buy Activision Blizzard. “Securities at the artificially inflated prices they made, or at all,” the lawsuit states. which must be determined in the process. “
The lawsuit has not yet been certified as a class action at the time, and the Rosen law firm warned that anyone applying for class action membership will actually have legal representation in the matter unless they hire their own lawyers independent. However, there is currently no obligation to cooperate: Potential parties to the litigation “can also remain absent class plaintiffs and do nothing at this point,” said the law firm. The withholding agreement also states that up to 33.3% of the amount collected in the case “plus payouts” (including travel expenses, attorney fees and more) can be claimed, which is claimed first.
While Activision Blizzard employees were largely unhappy with the statements in today’s second quarter financial report and the call from investors, the market appears to be more interesting. The company’s stock price rebounded to nearly $ 85 in after-hours trading, up 6.29%.
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