California settles Activision Blizzard gender discrimination lawsuit for $54 million

A California regulator has settled its blockbuster lawsuit that alleged a tradition of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard. Now underneath the possession of Microsoft, the gaming firm pays about $54 million as a part of the settlement, in response to a press launch from California’s Civil Rights Division (CRD).

The CRD (previously generally known as the Division of Honest Employment and Housing or DFEH) filed this lawsuit in July 2021, alleging that Activision Blizzard had a “frat boy” tradition the place girls have been topic to sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Following the go well with, workers walked out, executives together with then-Blizzard president J. Allen Brack and Blizzard’s former SVP of HR left the corporate, and, months later, The Wall Road Journal reported that CEO Bobby Kotick had recognized of sexual misconduct allegations for years.

Nonetheless, as a part of the settlement settlement, the CRD mentioned that “no courtroom or any impartial investigation has substantiated any allegations” of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard and that there wasn’t proof of wrongdoing by Kotick, in response to The New York Instances. (The corporate advised the SEC final 12 months that an inside investigation discovered “no proof to counsel” that senior executives ignored allegations of gender harassment.) The WSJ additionally reported on the lawsuit on Friday.

If a courtroom approves the settlement, Activision Blizzard pays about $54,875,000 to “cowl direct reduction to staff and litigation prices,” with $45,750,000 of that going to “a settlement fund devoted to compensating staff,” the CRD says.

Months after California’s lawsuit, Microsoft introduced that it supposed to amass Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal. Following a collection of regulatory hurdles, that deal lastly closed in October. Kotick will keep at Activision Blizzard till the top of the 12 months.