Activistion Blizzard Faces Investor Lawsuit On Top Of First Lawsuit

It’s time to kill the dragon. Image: Activision Blizzard

A class action filed today in Central California U.S. District Court on Behalf of Investors Alleges Activision Blizzard’s Intentional Failure to Disclose her persistent problems of sexual harassment and discrimination artificially inflated the value of the company’s shares. Simply put, if investors had known the extent of Activision Blizzard’s problems, they would not have invested in its stocks.

Activision Blizzard stock price have been slowly declining since June 21, when news broke that the company was being sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing on a work culture that has fostered years of abuse and discrimination against female employees. With a call for second quarter earnings later today, investors are understandably concerned about the state of the company in which they have invested. Which makes today the perfect day for Los Angeles. Rosen law firm file a class action on behalf of such investors.

The lawsuit, which covers anyone who traded in securities of Activision Blizzard between August 4, 2016 and July 27, 2021, seeks damages based on the defendants’ violations of federal securities laws by issuing statements materially false and misleading during the class action period. The lawsuit not only names the corporation Activision Blizzard as the defendant, but also CEO Bobby Kotick, CFO Dennis Durkin and former CFO Spencer Neumann, three executives who the lawsuit claims were instrumental in spreading false information.

The disputed information comes in the form of Activision Blizzard’s annual SOX certifications. SOX refers to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, legislation passed to protect the public against the false and fraudulent activities of listed companies. Every year, companies must publish a SOX certification, signed by management, revealing any potential legal issues, investigations, audits, or other proceedings that could affect the value of the company.

This is Activision’s 2016 SOX certification, signed by Bobby Kotick and then CFO Dennis Durkin.

“We are party to claims, lawsuits, investigations, audits and other routine procedures arising out of the ordinary course of business, including with respect to intellectual property rights, contractual claims, labor and employment matters, regulatory matters, tax matters, unclaimed property matters, compliance matters and collection matters. In the opinion of management, after consultation with legal counsel, these ongoing claims and lawsuits are not material and we do not expect them to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results. operations or our cash.

The class action lawsuit claims Activision Blizzard and its executives were aware of the company’s endemic gender discrimination and workplace harassment issues during the times these SOX certifications were issued and knowingly withheld this information. The last sentence of the statement, in particular, is false but has remained unchanged since 2016, most recently appearing in Activision Blizzard’s 2020 year-end report. As the events of the last two weeks have been proven, the ongoing claims and investigations have indeed had a material adverse effect on Activision Blizzard’s business.

Looks like Rosen’s law firm has a pretty solid case in its hands. And in case the firm rings, it’s the same behind the Class action brought by an investor against CD Projekt Red following the disastrous release of Cyberpunk 2077.