San Francisco, October 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) Game company Activision Blizzard chief compliance officer Frances Townsend is stepping down after several sexual assault allegations surfaced within the company.
She is leaving her post after hundreds of employees last year criticized her response to complaints of sexual harassment from workers, a charge Townsend has denied.
Townsend will still serve as an adviser to Activision Blizzard’s board and embattled CEO Bobby Kotick, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Townsend joined games maker Call of Duty (CoD) in March 2021 as executive vice president of corporate affairs, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer.
She will no longer be salaried and “her assistants will be promoted to fill the positions she occupied”.
Townsend, a former counterterrorism official under former U.S. President George W. Bush, was tasked with helping Activision handle state and federal investigations into allegations of gender bias and sexual harassment within the company, according to the report.
His departure came as Activision is in the process of acquiring $68.7 billion in cash from Microsoft.
The European Commission opened a formal investigation into the deal last week and set November 8 as the provisional deadline for the first phase of its investigation.
Britain’s market watchdog announced an in-depth investigation into Microsoft’s deal last month.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has expressed concern that Microsoft’s anticipated purchase of Activision Blizzard “could significantly reduce competition in games consoles, multi-subscription services games and cloud game services (game streaming)”.
Activision Blizzard owns some of the best-selling and most recognizable game franchises in the world, such as Call of Duty (CoD) and World of Warcraft.
Source: IANS
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