US investigating Activision Blizzard share buys

pcgamesinsider.biz:

The United States' Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the possibilities of insider trading at Activision Blizzard.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Fox co-founder Barry Diller, media magnate David Geffen and socialite Alexander von Furstenberg are the subject of two separate investigations owing to the fact they purchased Activision Blizzard stock just before it was bought by Microsoft. The trio bought $108 million in shares of the games publishing giant, resulting in a profit of around $60 million.

Diller has been a long time friend of Activision Blizzard boss, Robert Kotick, working together on the board of Coca-Cola. The Fox co-founder is also friends with Geffen and is married to von Furstenberg's mother, which is what has led the Department of Justice and SEC to take a look into the matter.

“It was simply a lucky bet," Dillier said.

"We acted on no information of any kind from anyone. It is one of those coincidences."

Microsoft announced its intention to buy Activision Blizzard for a record-breaking $68.7 billion in January of this year. The company's stock had previously been low due to the on-going scandal and numerous investigations into the Call of Duty maker's working culture.