Activision Blizzard shareholders have approved a New York State Comptroller proposal requesting that the company publicly report its attempts to combat the harassment, discrimination, and abuse allegations that have been ongoing since last fall.
The Washington Post reports that during Activision Blizzard’s annual meeting this week, shareholders also voted to reelect 10 board directors, including CEO Bobby Kotik, in spite of pushback from some shareholders from the beginning. Of those, 88 percent also voted in favor of executive compensation packages.
“Shareholders’ majority vote spoke loudly. Activision Blizzard needs to restore investor confidence and increase transparency on how it handles workplace harassment and discrimination,” state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli told The Washington Post. “We expect swift action from the company on our concerns.”
This decision comes after an internal investigation via Activision Blizzard’s Workplace Responsibility Committee that claimed there wasn’t any evidence of harassment or wrongdoing at the company.
“Contrary to many of the allegations, the Board and its external advisors have determined that there is no evidence to suggest that Activision Blizzard senior executives ever intentionally ignored or attempted to downplay the instances of gender harassment that occurred and were reported,” reads a statement from the Workplace Responsibility Committee. “While there are some substantiated instances of gender harassment, those unfortunate circumstances do not support the conclusion that Activision senior leadership or the Board were aware of and tolerated gender harassment or that there was ever a systemic issue with harassment, discrimination, or retaliation.”
In May, Activision Blizzard insisted that shareholders vote against a proposal for an employee representative to be on the board of directors. That request was swiftly denied at Tuesday’s meeting, with only 5 percent voting for it.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
