Activision Blizzard said in a securities filing on Friday that the company is cooperating with federal investigations into purchasing and selling by friends of its CEO shortly before the game company unveiled its sale to Microsoft Corp.

The company obtained information requests from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. And a subpoena from a Division of Justice grand jury, the maker of “Name of Responsibility” revealed in an amended proxy submission.

The info requests “appear to relate to their respective investigations into purchasing and selling in stocks by third parties. Including individuals identified to Activision Blizzard’s CEO – prior to the announcement of the planned acquisition,” it said.

In January 2022, Microsoft agreed to buy Activision for $95 per share. Or $68.7 billion in total, in the largest video-game acquisition in history. The company did not name the events. Nor did it specify whether the grand jury subpoena was related to the individual employees.

Wall Street Journal’s Report

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that media moguls Barry Diller and David Geffen. As well as investor Alexander von Furstenberg, purchased stock options after von Furstenberg met with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. It happened just days before the announcement of the news of the sale to Microsoft. The submission did not state when it acquired the subpoena or the SEC request for information. 

“Activision Blizzard has informed these authorities that it plans to cooperate fully with these inquiries,” the company noted.

Barry Diller told Reuters that none of the three had any information about potential acquisitions. And did anything on the assumption that Activision’s value was not enough and had the possibility to go non-public or available on sale.

After shareholders sued the corporation, citing omissions in a preliminary proxy on the sale. The amended proxy submission arrived, which included information on its cooperation with the SEC and DOJ.

Jane