Activision-Blizzard class action tossed

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a securities fraud class action against Activision Blizzard; the class’s third amended complaint did not meet the heightened pleading requirements imposed by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Notably, they could not demonstrate a strong inference that former CEO Bobby Kotick knew or deliberately regarded the fact that investigations by the state’s fair employment department and the EEOC were “nonroutine, significant, and likely to have material adverse outcomes.”