In the wake of an organized walkout by Activision Blizzard employees, calling for the immediate resignation of Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, as well as the resignation of several other key executives, a group of shareholders with a total of 4.8 million shares is now asking for the same through a letter written to the company's board of directors.
The most recent fallout stems from a report from the Wall Street Journal that implicated Bobby Kotick directly, claiming that not only was he aware of the sexual misconduct rampant in his company's workplace, but that he also chose to ignore and participate in it, having personal allegations raised against him dating as far back as 2006.
The shareholders, led by the Strategic Organizing Center Investment Group, also called for the resignation of the board's two longest serving directors, Robert Morgado and Brian Kelly, serving in that capacity since 1997 and 1995, respectively.
In the letter addressed to the board, the shareholders claimed that should their resignation demands be ignored – and Kotick, Morgado and Kelly do not step down by December 31st – they would choose to not vote for the reelection of the current board of directors at the annual shareholders meeting held in June, and that they would urge other shareholders to do the same.
SOC's executive director, Dieter Waizenegger said in an interview that Activision Blizzard needed a new CEO, board chair, as well as a lead independent director with the expertise, skill set and conviction to truly change Activision Blizzard's company culture, citing and condemning the innability of the current leadership to provide and uphold a safe workplace.
Furthermore, in the letter addressed to the board, the SOC investment group stated that in contrast to past company statements, Bobby Kotick was personally aware of many incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and gender discrimination at Activision Blizzard, yet failed to recognize and address the systematic nature of the company’s hostile workplace culture, as well as ensure that the managers and executives responsible were terminated from their positions.
Though the investment group represents a small part of the company's total shares, with the recent stories and allegations coming out against Activision Blizzard (including an explantation as to why former co-head of Blizzard Entertainment, Jennifer Oneal, left the company shortly after being appointed her new role), public perception of Activision Blizzard has reached a new low, and other investment groups among the company's shareholders may start to feel the same way.
Only time will tell if this will lead to significant changes within the company's culture, but it's become readily apparent through recent actions that the current leadership is only interested in addressing the issues in a superficial way.