Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick has denied claims of systemic harassment at the company and says he’s “all for” unions, just not one that “doesn’t play by the rules.”
In a recent interview, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick discussed the ongoing harassment and misconduct lawsuit that was filed in 2021, his thoughts on Activision Blizzard employees joining a union, and Microsoft’s acquisition of the Call of Duty and Diablo publisher.
Activision Blizzard CEO on employee unions, “I’m all for it!
In an interview with Variety, Kotick said that “outside forces” are to blame for Activision’s poor reputation since the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit, which alleges widespread discrimination and sexual harassment at the company. “We’ve had every possible form of investigation done. And we did not have a systemic issue with harassment — ever. We didn’t have any of what were mischaracterizations reported in the media,” Kotick said. “But what we did have was a very aggressive labor movement working hard to try and destabilize the company.”
In the years since 2021, a number of other sexual harassment lawsuits have been filed, with some accusing Kotick of turning a blind eye. “I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you if any of what you read in the inflammatory narrative was truthful,” Kotick said. “No board of directors in a noncontrolled company is going to allow the CEO of an enterprise to stay running the enterprise if those things were truthful.” Kotick owns less than 5{d0f68332078ae50ae5cd49ede95b9d76bcf00fa473a5a7068cdab9d644705628} of Activision Blizzard’s shares, and as such, has no control over the company’s voting rights, so could be voted out with little issue if that is what the shareholders wanted.
With that said, Activision’s latest transparency report (via Axios), shows that the company received 114 reports of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation by its employees last year, which Activision attributes to greater scrutiny of the issue following the lawsuits. “Even one instance of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation is one too many,” Activision’s board said in the report. “We have robust procedures in place to resolve workplace concerns in a neutral and fair manner and to take appropriate corrective action.”
A number of corrective actions were taken in response to the claims, resulting in terminating workers for unwanted advances, discriminatory language, misgendering, physical assault, retaliation, and two cases of non-consensual touching. According to the report, Activision Blizzard had 15,545 full-time employees last year, and the board said the increase in misconduct reports is a “sign of a healthy reporting culture and effective training.”
Last year, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) assisted Raven Software’s QA testers with unionizing, as well as filed charges against Activision Blizzard for firing two QA testers and violating a number of workplace laws, putting Kotick in the hot seat as an anti-union CEO. “I am not like other CEOs that are anti-union,” Kotick told Variety. “I’m the only Fortune 500 CEO who’s a member of a union. If we have employees who want a union to represent them, and they believe that that union is going to be able to provide them with opportunities and enhancements to their work experience, I’m all for it. I have a mother who was a teacher. I have no aversion to a union. What I do have an aversion to is a union that doesn’t play by the rules.”
Kotick also stated that some of the negativity towards him has been antisemitic. “The hatred has turned into a lot of antisemitism,” Kotick said. “When you look at images of me on the internet, there are these antisemitic undertones. My kids have gotten death threats.”
Amid the initial wave of lawsuits filed against Activision, Microsoft revealed that a deal had been struck to acquire the publisher for a whopping $69 billion, which Kotick believes is “by far the best place for us to be.
I like the company,” Kotick said. “I like the culture. I’m really scared about the economy — compensation for talent has been ratcheting up in ways that are complex for us to deal with. So, this deal made a lot of sense.”
“We have a great company. We have an enormous amount of momentum, and we have an extraordinary balance sheet,” Kotick added “And we can continue to be successful alone like we have been for the last 30 years. But it’ll be great if the deal goes through because I think it’s the right thing for our industry.”
