Activision Blizzard investor group asks shareholders to vote against Microsoft merger

It would appear that there’s little to keep the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard from going through, but there are still some final steps that need to occur. For one, Activision Blizzard’s shareholders need to vote to allow the acquisition to go through. To this end, the SOC Investment Group which has investment in Activision Blizzard, shared a letter urging fellow shareholders to vote against the acquisition, claiming it “fails to properly value Activision and its future earnings potential.”

The SOC Investment Group shared the letter of its concern via a press release on Activision Blizzard’s Investor Relations website. According to the letter, the SOC group asks that shareholders vote against the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, bringing up the latter’s inadequate response to sexual harassment allegations and lawsuits and its effect on the company’s stock and image.

“This transaction fails to properly value Activision and its future earnings potential, in significant part because it ignores the role that the sexual harassment crisis—and the Activision board’s incompetent handling of it—has played in delaying product releases and depressing the share price,”

The SOC Investment Group is one of Activision Blizzard's larger shareholders and has been critical of the company's response to sexual harassment allegations.

It’s not the first time the SOC Investment Group has been critical of Activision Blizzard leadership in regards to recent allegations which have the company facing lawsuits from the state of California. In the past, the SOC Group has further criticized the executive response to these allegations, demanding Bobby Kotick step down from his place on the board and exit the company. As that has not happened yet, the SOC Group seems to suggest that the general negative image of Activision Blizzard at current makes the Microsoft deal opportunistic.

It still remains to be seen if other investors at Activision Blizzard listen to the noise being made by the SOC Investment Group. Voting on the deal should take place in the near future, stay tuned as we continue to follow this story for further updates.