The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined publishers activision blizzard $35 million for failing to create a system to address complaints of workplace misconduct. Regulators also found the company violated whistleblower protection rules. Activision Blizzard agreed to pay the fine to settle the claim.
Activision Blizzard blocked ex-employee from speaking to SEC
The SEC found that between 2018 and 2021, Activision Blizzard did not have adequate controls and procedures in place to adequately address employee complaints of workplace misconduct. As a result, the company “lacked sufficient information to understand the volume and content” of these complaints.
The company also violated a law designed to protect whistleblowers from 2016 to 2021 by requiring former employees to tell them whether they had received requests for information from the SEC. Also found: Jason Burt, director of the SEC’s Denver regional office, clarifies that it’s “not only bad corporate governance, it’s illegal” for former employees to block communication with the SEC .
According to a Wall Street Journal report in November 2021, CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of allegations of sexual assault and abuse at the company but hid them from investors. In July 2021, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing also filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for discrimination and sexual harassment.
A fine of $35 million is a lot, but it’s pretty small in the bucket considering Activision Blizzard made $1.78 billion in net revenue in Q3 2022 alone. its latest financial resultsMicrosoft and Activision Blizzard have also received formal objections from the EU against the proposed merger.
