Back in January 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for around $70 billion. Activision Blizzard is the publisher behind franchises like Call of Duty and Diablo, but has been embroiled in many scandals involving sexual harassment and toxic workplace conditions.
Microsoft is well aware of these problems, and in a recent interview with CNBC, Brad Smith, President and Vice-Chair at Microsoft, said that Activision Blizzard leadership would be changed once the acquisition goes through. Smith is currently looking into the leadership of Activision Blizzard and promised fixes. He said the following.
We"re looking to the leadership team at Activision Blizzard today to make culture and workplace safety a top priority every single day, until the day when this deal hopefully closes. And then we"ll take over and we need to make that same commitment. There will be some aspects that will change but it will all be one new team that will work together. Most importantly, we want to see the culture evolve, and we"ll see how people perform between now and the day this closes, assuming it"s approved. And then we"ll have the opportunity to make sure that we have the right people in the right position.
The Activision Blizzard acquisition is expected to go through sometime in late 2022 or early 2023. Smith was vague about who would be replaced at Activision Blizzard, but it"s not hard to surmise who that may be.
It"s expected that the current, embattled head of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, will depart once the deal closes. However, it"s clear that there are many other individuals at the company that have been engaged in hostile behavior. Hopefully, Microsoft will be able to remove them as well.