CEO Bobby Kotick has his own history of harassment and abusive behavior, according to The Wall Street Journal
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has been aware of sexual misconduct allegations at the company for years and has had his own history of harassment and abusive behavior, according to a bombshell report in The Wall Street Journal.
The report contains many shocking and previously unreported allegations about Activision Blizzard, which has been under intense scrutiny following the state of California’s July lawsuit alleging the company has a culture of “constant sexual harassment.” The problems appear to go all the way to the top, as the new WSJ report contains numerous troubling stories of Kotick’s awareness of problems and of his own behavior.
In one instance, Kotick was aware that a former female employee at an Activision-owned studio alleged she was raped by her male supervisor, according to the WSJ, but Kotick reportedly kept this information from his own board of directors and didn’t tell them about the eventual settlement with the employee.
Here is one particularly horrifying story about Kotick’s own alleged behavior:
And another:
The WSJ also reports that Kotick himself was the one who drafted the widely criticized letter that was supposedly written by Activision Blizzard exec Frances Townsend. Townsend, a woman, was publicly shamed and saw calls for her resignation.
In another letter shared publicly shortly after, Kotick apologized for the “Townsend letter,” saying “our initial responses to the issues we face together, and to your concerns, were, quite frankly, tone deaf.” He apparently didn’t see fit to mention that he drafted it in the first place.
A company spokesperson appeared to confirm his involvement with the “Townsend letter” by telling the WSJ that Kotick takes responsibility for and regrets his participation. “Ms. Townsend should not be blamed for this mistake,” the spokesperson said.
In that second Kotick memo, he announced that Activision Blizzard had hired an independent law firm to review the company’s practices — known union-busting law firm WilmerHale. Since then, the state of California has accused Activision Blizzard and WilmerHale of “withholding and suppressing evidence.”
Another shocking revelation from the new WSJ report is about Jen Oneal, who stepped down as co-lead of Blizzard three months after taking the role. She was appointed co-head of the studio in August alongside former Xbox exec Mike Ybarra after previous Blizzard president J. Allen Brack left the company. According to the WSJ, just one month after being appointed, Oneal wrote an email to the company’s legal team saying that she had been sexually harassed while at Activision Blizzard, that she was being paid less than Ybarra, and that she wanted to resign. “I have been tokenized, marginalized, and discriminated against,” Oneal wrote, according to the WSJ.
This summary only scratches the surface of what’s included in the report, which you should read in full.
An Activision Blizzard spokesperson shared this statement in response to The Kupon4U’s questions about the report:
In a statement to The Kupon4U, WSJ spokesperson Steve Severinghaus said that “nothing in Activision Blizzard’s statement challenges the facts in our reporting.”
Kotick also pushed back on the WSJ’s report in a video message sent to employees on Tuesday and subsequently shared with the world in the form of a written transcript. While he doesn’t commit to any new changes at the company, he does reiterate that “as I have made clear, we are moving forward with a new zero tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior — and zero means zero. Any reprehensible conduct is simply unacceptable.”
In response, A Better ABK, an advocacy group formed by Activision Blizzard employees, said that it “will not be silenced until Bobby Kotick has been replaced as CEO.” The group says it will be hosting a walkout on Tuesday. Employees also walked out in July.
In October, Kotick took a massive pay cut and said that the company would be waiving forced arbitration for sexual harassment and discrimination claims. The Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed the company and many senior execs, including Kotick, in September.
Update November 16th, 3:16PM ET: Added statement from The Wall Street Journal.
