New York City is suing Activision Blizzard over allegedly rushed Microsoft deals by Bobby Kotick to avoid liability

Activision Blizzard has been sued by a New York City-based group over allegedly rushed agreement of a deal with Microsoft by CEO Bobby Kotick. The lawsuit alleges that doing so could exempt him from liability and hurt the value of the company.

According to a report by Axios’ Stephen Totilo, the lawsuit was filed by a group of shareholders made up of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System and pension plans. These groups hold interests in the company and have filed some type of lawsuit that can force a company to disclose financial information and even open its books. If successful, New York would have access to the books, documentation of the Microsoft deal and negotiations, information about other potential buyers, and possibly internal documents about Kotick’s knowledge of the various allegations and complaints made against the company for discrimination, harassment, and hostile workplaces .

Allegations that Kotick was “unable to negotiate a sale of the company,” according to the filing, “should have been clear to the board” based on a series of investigations, court hearings and allegations of misconduct arising from harassment and discrimination . Activision Blizzard’s filings show the company still faces things like a federal harassment lawsuit at the EEOC (which it has settled, but a potential appeal is pending), California’s major lawsuit involving the state Department of Fair Housing and Employment ( DFEH). attempted to stop the EEOC settlement, two pending shareholder lawsuits, four lawsuits over the Microsoft deal, a possible class action lawsuit, and SEC and Justice Department investigations into the deal. The Microsoft acquisition still faces a number of regulatory steps and hurdles in several regions, and some are wondering if it will even pass them.

It’s a massive amount of legal and investigative work, so that forms the basis for this new filing, which accuses Kotick of rushing to close a deal that, despite being valued at nearly $69 billion (at $95 US dollars per share) amounts to undervalues the Company. This is based on the stock price falling from around this price since allegations and lawsuits were made public last year. This filing focuses on Kotick’s actions because the group alleges that rushing to a deal at what may have been too low a price cost the company value to avoid liability for the wrongdoing that happened under his leadership and his hands off it to wash.