Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard raises a key question: How will it deal with the videogame company’s notorious workplace culture?
Besides concerns about antitrust scrutiny and a record $68.7 billion price tag, Microsoft Corp.’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. also raises a key question: How will it deal with the videogame company’s notorious workplace culture?
In the past few years, Activision has been targeted for investigation by the Securities Exchange Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and is facing a lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing that alleges gender discrimination against and “constant” sexual harassment of women, retaliation against women for complaining, and includes a mention of a female employee’s suicide during a business trip with her male supervisor.
If the acquisition clears antitrust hurdles and is approved, experts see either a big plus for Activision — publisher of games such as “Call of Duty” — in the form of cleaning up its culture, or a bust for Microsoft if that cleanup fails. Kotick acknowledged in an interview with VentureBeat that the drag on Activision’s stock from the fallout over the sexual harassment scandals was a factor in his company’s decision to agree to a sale to Microsoft.
Microsoft itself has dealt with similar accusations, though it appears not to be to the same degree. Still, it announced last week that it has hired a law firm to review sexual-harassment and gender-discrimination policies after accusations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in 2019, including against co-founder Bill Gates. Its review of its own policies was sparked by a shareholder resolution submitted by Arjuna Capital that was supported by 78% of voting Microsoft investors.
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