Image Source: Visual China
BEIJING, April 22 (TMTPOST) — Video game giant Activision Blizzard announced on Thursday that it will add two female members to its board.
In the past few months, Activision Blizzard has been under scrutiny over sexual harassment and gender discrimination cases within the company.
The newly appointed board members will help improve diversity of the board. Activision Blizzard’s board has been criticized for having mainly longtime friends of the company’s CEO Bobby Kotick. The company said in a statement that current board members Hendrik Hartong and Casey Wasserman will resign to vacate their seats for new members.
The newly appointed members are newsletter service provider SubStack’s VP of Communication Lulu Cheng and spirits brand Bacardi’s Senior Vice President Kerry Carr. The former had already been appointed on April 16 while the latter will be nominated at the annual shareholders meeting that will be held soon.
If the appointments are successful, the company’s board would consist of four female members and six male members. A local statute in California mandates that boards that have reached a certain scale must have at least three female board members. Activision Blizzard is now in compliance with the rule after appointing Lulu Cheng.
Activision Blizzard’s leadership has been under fire for its treatment towards the company’s female staff. New members at the board might shed some new light on the gender discrimination issues that the company is currently tackling. A government agency in California sued the video game company for sexual harassment and gender discrimination last summer, which triggered Microsoft’s US69 billion acquisition plans to take over the company. The acquisition deal is currently waiting for approvals from local regulators.
See also: Activision Blizzard’s US$18 Million Settlement in Sexual Harassment Case Approved by Court
