According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Activision-Blizzard head Bobby Kotick's friends Barry Diller, Alexander von Furstenberg, and David Geffen are under investigation by federal prosecutors and securities regulators for investing $108 million days before the Microsoft acquisition was announced.
While the three have denied this and said that this was a coincidence, questions about the information they received from their "long-term friend" Kotick remain. Hopefully, the United States government will be able to ascertain the truth in the months to come.
The deals were made through JPMorgan Chase. After they went public, JPMorgan Chase reported the $108 million invested by the trio to the government because it was suspicious. It's unclear why Diller, von Furstenberg, and Geffen invested heavily in Activision-Blizzard despite the fact that it's been embroiled in sexual harassment lawsuits and other controversies for years.
We'll keep you posted as soon as we know more, but it's difficult to prove insider trading because you need a concrete paper trail. Let's see what happens in the future. The Microsoft acquisition of Activision-Blizzard is expected to go through sometime in late 2022 or early 2023.
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