New York City sues Activision Blizzard with focus on CEO Kotick
Drew Angerer/Getty Images News

New York City has filed suit against Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), alleging that the company's CEO Bobby Kotick rushed into its $95/share deal to be acquired by Microsoft (MSFT) to escape liability for misconduct, Axios reports.
The city's employees' retirement system and pension funds for teachers, police and firefights pursued what's known as a Section 220 complaint in Delaware court.
Such complaints allow stockholders to pursue opening the books of a company to potentially expose wrongdoing.
In New York City's case, it's demanding a long list of documents including information related to the Microsoft deal and information on five possible buyers that came up in sale negotiations.
Ultimately, it's seeking information on what Kotick knew about sexual misconduct that has roiled Activision Blizzard (ATVI) since last summer. âGiven Kotickâs personal responsibility and liability for Activisionâs broken workplace, it should have been clear to the Board that he was unfit to negotiate a sale of the Company,â the suit says. âBut it wasnât.â
The plaintiffs own Activision stock and so they argue that management actions hurt the company's value.
Yesterday came key gaming news for the company, as Blizzard unveiled a new Warcraft mobile game while scrapping another major game project from the franchise.