By Tom Hals
WILMINGTON, Delaware, May 22 (Reuters) – Shareholders of Activision Blizzard reached a $250 million settlement over allegations that the company’s former executives and Microsoft shortchanged them when Microsoft acquired the game maker for $75.4 billion in 2023, according to a late Thursday court filing in a Delaware state court.
Shareholders in the maker of the “Call of Duty” video game, led by Swedish pension fund Sjunde AP-Fonden, accused former Activision Blizzard executives including Chief Executive Bobby Kotick of breaching their fiduciary duties to investors by agreeing to a $95 per share takeover price.
The shareholders said Kotick rushed into the merger so he could keep his job and $400 million of change-of-control benefits.
Microsoft and Kotick brought counterclaims against Sjunde, which will also be resolved in the settlement agreement.
(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Franklin Paul and Edmund Klamann)
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