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The board at Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) pushed again Thursday towards the drumbeat of media tales about accusations of harassment in firm tradition.
In an extended letter it included in an SEC filing, the board stated that it had promised to dig into points straight, and “What we have now come to appreciate over the previous a number of months is that there are various truths about our firm – particular person and collective, experiential and data-driven – and typically they are often tough to reconcile.”
Media criticism of the board and senior executives as insensitive to office issues, although is “with out benefit. Activision Blizzard senior executives responded in a well timed method and with integrity and resolve to enhance the office.”
“Opposite to lots of the allegations, the Board and its exterior advisors have decided that there isn’t any proof to recommend that Activision Blizzard senior executives ever deliberately ignored or tried to downplay the cases of gender harassment that occurred and had been reported,” the letter learn.
Whereas it notes “a single occasion of somebody feeling diminished at Activision Blizzard is one too many,” the board says there is not a systemic downside with harassment, discrimination or retaliation on the firm, and that “primarily based on the quantity of stories, the quantity of misconduct mirrored is relatively low for a corporation the dimensions of Activision Blizzard.”
Their work additionally hasn’t unearthed any proof suggesting any try by a senior government or worker to hide info from the board, it stated.
Notably, that is pushback on November stories that CEO Bobby Kotick knew for years about sexual-misconduct allegations and that he kept some reports from the board.
