Activision Blizzard Gets Sued AGAIN - But By The NYC Pension Fund This Time

Another day, another Activision Blizzard lawsuit. But this time, the suing party is not one you'd expect considering the circumstances.

CNN reports that the embattled developer/publisher has been sued by the New York City Pension Fund, with the suit actively targeting CEO Bobby Kotick. According to officials of the fund, they're trying to force ActiBlizz to reveal records that might say whether Kotick "breached his fiduciary duty to investors."

In non-legalese, the lawsuit aims to try to prove whether the CEO negotiated the Microsoft deal as a way of escaping liability from his alleged actions at the company. It's been news for a while now that Activision Blizzard has been sued by the state of California for allegations of workplace and sexual harassment, to which Kotick was said to have turned a blind eye.

Here's what the complaint says:

"Thanks to the Microsoft deal, Kotick will be able to escape liability and accountability entirely, and will instead continue to serve as an executive after the m,erger closes. Worse, despite his potential liability for breaches of fiduciary duty, the board allowed Kotick himself to negotiate the transaction with Microsoft. The board's decision to entrust Kotick with the negotiation process is inexcusable for the additional reason that Kotick stands to personally receive substantial material benefits whose value is not directly aligned with the merger price."

According to Axios, the suit was filed in Delaware on April 26th. It involved the New York City Employees' Retirement system and pension funds, which covers the city's firefighters, teachers, and police. They filed it since they own Activision Blizzard stock, believing that Kotick's and the top management's actions basically hurt the company's value.

In other words, these investors from New York City are going to lose a staggering amount of money.

More Details About The New Activision Blizzard Lawsuit

Here are a few interesting tidbits of information about this new Activision Blizzard lawsuit.

The suers argue that Kotick's apparent direct connection to the company's "broken" workplace should have been enough to not let him negotiate the deal with Microsoft. Aside from that, they also say that Microsoft severely undervalued the deal with its offer of $95 per share. It was revealed that ActiBlizz shares were trading close to this amount shortly before the public issues began last year.

Not to mention, there's still the issue of Kotick's expected payout. According to Fortune, the controversial CEO could expect a windfall of $375.3 million before taxes once the Microsoft deal closes. There's also another $22 million in bonuses for "meeting workplace culture goals," as per the original CNN report.

All of these details tie into the new lawsuit. It seems now that even if Kotick and the board's antics may have lost the company value, the CEO is still getting the last laugh with a massive payout. Plus, he still gets to keep his position until after the Microsoft deal closes, which isn't expected to push through until next year.

This is also the latest in the saga of Kotick, who at the beginning of April was called out by four US Senators for his lack of accountability with regards to toxic workplace allegations.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce