Two separate federal investigations have been opened due to suspicion surrounding Activision stocks bought by Fox co-founder Barry Diller, Prince Alexander von Furstenberg, and DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen. Both the SEC and US Justice Department are investigating the trio after shares they bought just days before Microsoft's historical buyout of Activision Blizzard was announced netted them a $60 million profit.
People get lucky on stocks all the time, but there's a reason this deal specifically is being investigated. As reported by Kotaku, Diller served on the Coca-Cola board of directors alongside Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, the man at the centre of the gaming company's many lawsuits and controversies.
The connections don't stop there. Diller is good friends with Geffen, and also von Furstenberg's stepfather. It doesn't take a private investigator to notice that the whole thing smells a bit fishy, which it's under both investigations.
In a quote given to the Wall Street Journal, Diller said, "It was simply a lucky bet. We acted on no information of any kind from anyone. It is one of those coincidences." Real convincing.
It should come as no surprise that a deal of this size has drawn some eyes. Microsoft's near $70 billion acquisition has blown every other video game deal out of the water. And, naturally, everyone is going to want a piece.
One recent report suggests that the Xbox company reached out to the publisher just days after the bombshell report that implicated Kotick in his company's abuse allegations. Apparently, Spencer and Kotick first spoke about the deal November 19, 2021, meaning Kotick would have had a long time to get his friends in on some side action before the acquisition was made public.
As is so often the case, the rich get richer and the workers continue to suffer. The Raven QA department attempting to unionise has seen a host of union-busting techniques employed by Activision, including splitting the department up and putting QA personnel in the marketing team. A US Senator has even called out Kotick for these tactics.
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