Activision-Blizzard fails California diversity law and blames Microsoft deal for it

According to the diversity law and the ‘Women on Board’ requirement, companies who have their executive office in California need to have at least three women in their board of directors. Something Activision-Blizzard failed to do. This law was first introduced in 2019, giving companies some leeway to make the necessary changes, however. Activision-Blizzard currently has only two women in a director position, Reveta Bowers and Dawn Ostroff.

In a statement, Activision-Blizzard pointed to their most recent deal with Microsoft as the biggest reason why they weren’t able to comply with the requirement. “Since the Company’s current directors would cease to continue to serve on our Board of Directors upon consummation of our proposed transaction with Microsoft, we were unable to conclude the process in 2021. We will be continuing our efforts to appoint a new female director.”

Activision is claiming the Microsoft deal, for which talks began in Nov 2021, stopped it from hiring a third woman to its board by December 31, 2021, as required by a California law.

The law was put in place on January 1 2019. They had three years.https://t.co/7iWFwhO8qu

— Rebekah Valentine (@duckvalentine) March 4, 2022

The situation is interesting as, following the news of the merger coming out, both Activision-Blizzard and Microsoft said that being more diverse and becoming a more inclusive environment was a top priority for them. It’s currently unclear if any sanctions will be imposed on the company.

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