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Activision Blizzard's chief compliance officer left, causing controversy over his response to the company's sexual harassment allegations

Shulou Source: shulou.com Published: 2023-11-24 10:57:08 10月03日 Update

On the morning of October 1, Beijing time, it was reported that Frances Townsend, chief compliance officer of Activision Activision Blizzard, was closely watched for her response to the company's sexual assault allegations last year. Now, with Activision Blizzard's sale to Microsoft nearing completion, Townsend will also resign.

▲ Frances Townsend (FrancesTownsend) joined Activision Blizzard in March 2021 as chief compliance officer as well as executive vice president of corporate affairs. After leaving office (Friday, local time), Townsend will serve as an adviser to the company's board of directors and CEO Bobby Bobby Kotick.

Jane Brewer (Jen Brewer), senior vice president for ethics and compliance at Activision Blizzard, and Luci Altman, senior vice president for corporate governance, will replace Townsend.

Townsend has been closely watched for his response to allegations of sexual assault at the company last year. In July 2021, the California Bureau of Housing and Employment Equity filed a complaint against Activision Blizzard, alleging discrimination, sexual harassment and abuse within the company, as well as an unhealthy workplace culture. Townsend responded that the lawsuit was meaningless and irresponsible. The content of the lawsuit is inconsistent with the facts and is taken out of context.

Townsend's response was severely criticized, leading more than 2000 current and former employees to sign a joint letter calling Townsend's response "abhorrent and humiliating".

In the end, Activision Blizzard CEO Kotick took responsibility for the incident, saying Townsend was not to blame. Since then, Activision Blizzard has taken a more moderate approach to the matter.

In January, Microsoft announced that it would buy Activision Blizzard for $95 a share in cash, totaling about $68.7 billion. The deal is currently under investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK's antitrust regulator. But the two companies still expect the deal to be completed by June next year.