Activision Faces Insider Trading Class Action

A number of key Activision executives have been named as defendants in a class action lawsuit by a group of the company’s shareholders, who claim that false statements were issued in order to facilitate insider trading. According to the claims made by the lawsuit, Activision executives issued false and misleading statements about the company's financial position and future prospects, thus causing the share price to rise and allowing them to sell their own personal stocks in the company at a large profit. The document alleges that the named defendants - including CEO Robert Kotick, CFO William Chardavoyne and publishing president and CEO Ron Doornink - made around $483 million between them. The allegations made about the company's apparent misconduct focus on a claim that they consistently shipped products to retailers despite already knowing that the products would be returned within two months of the shipment, and that it improperly recorded revenues from these sales and from "non-invoiced" discounts given to certain customers. Source: Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP