Santa Monica, California based video game company Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) has disclosed that it’s fully cooperating with federal investigations following allegations of trading by friends of the company’s chief executive officer shortly before the company revealed its sale to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).
The company made this revelation in a regulatory filing it made with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after receiving requests for information from the commission and a subpoena from a Department of Justice grand jury.
“Activision Blizzard has informed these authorities that it intends to be fully cooperative with these investigations,” said the company.
The company says the requests from the SEC appear to relate to their respective investigations into trading by third parties including persons known to the company’s CEO, Bobby Kotick, in securities before the announcement of the proposed transaction.
The company however failed to reveal the names of the parties or even say whether the grand jury subpoena was directed at any employee. The filing also didn’t disclose when it received the subpoena or the SEC request for the required information.
The amended filing which includes information on the company’s cooperation with the SEC and the Department of Justice comes after shareholders sued the company alleging omissions to a preliminary proxy on the acquisition deal.
