Activision held back damning numbers about workplace misconduct - report
It's reported that over 700 employee concerns were logged by the company.
Activision Blizzard has fired or disciplined a number of employees since misconduct allegations came out in July, the number of which was set to be made public, but was ultimately held back by CEO Bobby Kotick.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, three dozen employees have been let go by the company while around 40 others have been disciplined since misconduct allegations and instances of sexual harassment came to light after California filed a lawsuit against the company.
Word of actions taken against employees was scheduled to be released by Activision before the winter holidays, but CEO Bobby Kotick felt the information would make issues the company was facing seem larger than what is already public knowledge.
It is also stated in the WSJ report that the number of complaints filed by employees to Activision Blizzard stands at around 700. These complaints cover misconduct and other issues along with separate reports covering what was brought to light back in July. It is said that Activision has reviewed over 90% of the 700 employee reports, a figure that is up from the 500 reports of workplace misconduct complied in November, which is a figure that Activision spokesperson Helaine Klasky has denounced.
In a statement to the WSJ, Klasky did confirm that 37 people have left the company and that 44 were disciplined as part of the ongoing investigation. Klasky waved off the 700 figure as being inaccurate and issues raised with the company were everything from milder workplace concerns to “a small number” of more serious matters, which have been investigated. Klasky also stated the allegation that Kotick held back information from the public regarding the number of disciplinary actions “is untrue,” as the company’s focus is to make sure it has “accurate data and analysis to share.”
It was announced today that Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, which some have found a bit odd considering all of the troubles the latter is still going through, especially after Microsoft said previously it was evaluating its relationship with the company due to all of the allegations. Buying the company outright is one way of evaluating a relationship, we reckon.