Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay about $54 million to settle discrimination claims brought by California’s civil rights agency on behalf of women employed by the video game maker.
The settlement, which is subject to court approval, resolves allegations that the maker of Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft and other video games “discriminated against women at the company, including denying promotion opportunities and paying them less than men for doing substantially similar work,” the California Civil Rights Department announced late Friday.
California’s civil rights agency sued Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard in July 2021, alleging that female employees faced constant sexual harassment, that few women were named to leadership roles and that when they were, they earned less salary, incentive pay and total compensation than male peers.
Amazon wins EU tax case
Amazon won’t have to pay about $273 million in back taxes after European Union judges ruled in favor of the U.S. e-commerce giant late last week, dealing a defeat to the 27-nation bloc in its efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance.
The ruling by the EU’s top court is final, ending the long-running legal battle over tax arrangements between Amazon and Luxembourg’s government and marking a further setback for a crackdown by antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager.
The Court of Justice backed a 2021 decision by judges in a lower court who sided with Amazon, saying the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, had not proved its case that Amazon received illegal state support.
“The Court of Justice confirms that the Commission has not established that the tax ruling given to Amazon by Luxembourg was a State aid that was incompatible with the internal market” of the EU, the court said in a press release.
