Former CEO of Activision Blizzard Robert A. Bobby Kotik filed a lawsuit Against the G/O Media media company, accusing it of the dissemination of knowingly false information about it in publications released on March 11, 2024. According to him, the articles on the sites of Kotaku and Gizmodo contained inaccurate accusations of systemic violations of Activision Blizzard, despite the fact that official investigations did not confirm such facts.
The lawsuit filed in the second district court of Delaware states that the G/O Media deliberately published materials containing unproven and already removed accusations in order to harm the reputation of the cat. The articles discussed rumors about his possible interest in buying Tiktok, but they also included charges of allegedly existing toxic corporate culture in Activision Blizzard.
The cat notes that the trials of 2021 with the California Civil Rights Department ended with settlement in December 2023 in the amount of $ 54 million. The official documents indicate that “no court or independent investigation confirmed the charges of systemic harassment or discrimination, as well as ignoring or encouraging such a culture by leadership.” Despite this, the articles of Kotaku and Gizmodo did not mention the withdrawal of accusations, which, according to the cat, is misleading the public.
After the representatives of the cat’s representatives to the G/O Media editors, changes were made to the articles: the word “disgraced” was removed from the heading of one of the publications, and also added information about the agreement achieved. However, he claims that publications are still distorting the essence of settlement.
Bobby Kotik, who led the Activision Blizzard for more than 30 years and left the post at the end of 2023, requires the G/O Media compensation for damage, the amount of which will be determined during the trial. Representatives of both sides have not yet commented on the situation.
