Activision Blizzard reached an agreement to end a lawsuit pointing to the injustice of denying women promotion and paying them lower wages than men. The acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft for a sum of $69 billion was finalized in October.
Activision Blizzard, now owned by Microsoft, has agreed to settle a case with California's Civil Rights Department that accused the video game publisher of discriminating against women by denying them promotion opportunities and paying them less. To provide relief to female employees and contractors from October 2015 to December 2020, Activision Blizzard will pay nearly $55 million, of which $46 million will be placed into a fund for affected women. This agreement follows the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's two-year-old settlement of a case centered on sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and retaliation where the company agreed to form an $18 million fund for victims. The Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a separate suit the following year against Activision Blizzard, claiming sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. In response to this news, Microsoft initiated talks to acquire Activision Blizzard and the $69 billion transaction was finalized in October. In order to be fully approved, the Los Angeles County Superior Court must now sign the settlement agreement. The agreement would also necessitate Activision to undertake efforts to include underrepresented people in recruitment processes and to provide job applicants with clear information about the opportunity to negotiate their pay. Activision Blizzard did not comment on the case.
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