Stockholders of Activision Blizzard voted to sale for $68.7 Billion sale to Microsoft
At a special meeting, the stockholders of Activision Blizzard approved Microsoft’s proposal to sell the gaming company for $68.7 billion.
This all-cash transaction values the creator of games like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush at $95 per share.
“Today’s overwhelmingly supportive vote by our stockholders confirms our shared belief that, combined with Microsoft, we will be even better positioned to create great value for our players,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.
He added that the deal would provide “even greater opportunities for our employees, and to continue our focus on becoming an inspiring example of a welcoming, respectful and inclusive workplace.” The company is facing numerous lawsuits for sexual harassment, retaliation and discriminatory workplace practices. Kotick himself has been accused of knowing for years about sexual misconduct and rape allegations at his company but not doing anything about it.
In light of these conflicts, Kotick announced a zero-tolerance policy against harassment and $250 million investment in recruiting gender diverse talent. At that time, only 23% of employees are identifying as women or non-binary people. But employee dissatisfaction has prevailed.
When the acquisition was announced in January, quality assurance testers at Raven Software, a division of Activision, had been on strike for five weeks. They protested the layoffs of 12 contractors, which came after over a month of consistent overtime work.
“We realized in that moment that our day-to-day work and our crucial role in the games industry as QA was not being taken into consideration,” Onah Rongstad, a QA tester at Raven Software, told TechCrunch at the time.
