Part of the process necessary for Microsoft to buyout Activision-Blizzard is its submission of a disclosure letter to the SEC about its current state of affairs. Activision-Blizzard did just that, but as you’ll recall, the initial filing insisted that the company is unaware of “pending activities or proceedings of any labor union” and that “there are no legal proceedings pending.” As we noted, legal scholars urged caution about assuming fraud, since statements like these are usually subject to exception filings.
Regardless, the Communication Workers of America (CWA) union, which is supporting unionization and accountability efforts within Activision-Blizzard on the part of workers, is now calling on the SEC to investigate these disclosure statements, calling them “inaccurate and misleading” given previous events such as Raven Software’s strike, the unfair labor practice complaint filed by the CWA itself (when ActiBlizz said there were none), and sexual harassment accusations made against executives (again, when ActiBlizz said there were none).
“Activision makes a series of statements in its Agreement and Plan of Merger that are clearly contradicted by available evidence, and others that omit key information, thus rendering them misleading,” reads part of the request.
The SEC was already investigating Activision Blizzard as part of a federal probe, so this request to action may be heard by the government body – assuming the expected disclosure letter doesn’t retract some of the company’s initially filed statements.
