After months of lawsuits alleging sexual harassment and discrimination, Activision Blizzard Inc. Chief Executive Bobby Kotick promised to increase diversity in the company's workforce and pledged $250 million to bolster opportunities for diverse talent.

In a letter to the staff released to the public on Oct. 28., Kotick said the Santa Monica-based gaming giant aims to increase the percentage of women and nonbinary people in its workforce to 50%, up from the 23% that it currently has. The company’s $250 million investment will fund initiatives over the next 10 years to expand opportunities in gaming and technology for marginalized communities, including education and degree programs for current employees and non-employees.

Along with these initiatives, Kotick asked the company’s board of directors to cut his overall compensation, including salary, bonuses and equity, to $62,500. His total 2020 earnings reached more than $150 million.

Kotick’s earnings will remain at this level until the company has “achieved the transformational gender-related goals and other commitments,” he said in the letter.

“I truly wish not a single employee had had an experience at work that resulted in hurt, humiliation, or worse — and to those who were affected, I sincerely apologize,” Kotick said in the letter.

Activision Blizzard also announced a “zero-tolerance” policy for harassment in which any employee found through investigation to have retaliated against anyone for making a complaint will be “terminated immediately.”

The company also waived its requirement for arbitration of sexual harassment and discrimination claims and announced plans to “focus on pay equity for employees” and report its pay ratios annually.

“My goal — and the goal of our board, our entire senior corporate team, our business unit leaders, and their teams — is to make sure you have the resources, culture and commitment from leadership you need to succeed in our collective aspiration to be the model workplace in our industry,” Kotick said in the letter.

Following the announcement, the company’s stock price saw a slight uptick in mid-day trading to around $78.80, but was still down from the previous day’s peak of around $79.75.
 
These issues first came to a head for Activision Blizzard after the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against the company on July 20, accusing it of violating California’s Equal Pay Act and Fair Employment and Housing Act by sexually harassing and discriminating against its female employees, particularly Black women. The lawsuit is ongoing.

On Sept. 28, the company agreed to pay $18 million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against it by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.