Bobby Kotick—Bobby Kotick knew about rape allegation and sexual misconduct but concealed from Activision board
According to a November 2021 Wall Street Journal investigation, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of multiple sexual misconduct allegations at the company, some of which he withheld from its board. In 2018, Kotick was informed via email that a female Sledgehammer Games employee had been raped by a male supervisor in 2016 and pressured to drink excessively at work events in 2017. The victim reached an out-of-court settlement with Activision, but Kotick did not tell the board of directors anything about the settlement or alleged rape. The board was blindsided by the California lawsuit's allegations and questioned Kotick about what he knew and why they hadn't been better informed.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Governance | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Gender Equity | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Whistleblower Protection | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.715 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Wall Street Journal investigation revealed Kotick knew about misconduct and withheld from board
A November 2021 Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of multiple sexual misconduct allegations at the company, some of which he withheld from its board. The investigation documented that in 2018, Kotick was informed via email about a rape allegation from 2016-2017 at Sledgehammer Games. The victim reached an out-of-court settlement, but Kotick did not inform the board of directors. The board was blindsided by the California lawsuit's allegations and questioned Kotick about what he knew and why they hadn't been better informed.