(Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
On the verge of its acquisition by Microsoft, video game publisher Activision Blizzard on Thursday released its first annual report on diversity and inclusion, and the results showed that the company has a long way to go before hitting its goals around increasing the representation of women and non-binary people in its workforce.
The gaming giant had faced pressure from shareholders and employees to reform its corporate culture and practices after a series of reports exposed rampant discrimination and harassment. The report is an attempt to follow through on promises to better track its progress on increasing diversity.
Among other changes, Blizzard Activision separated "Woman" and "Non-binary" gender identities in representation data, which is how the company was able to show that both groups made up 26 percent of the workforce in December, which is just over half of its 2025 goal.
"We'll continue to measure the impact of these changes, as we're confident this work will contribute to our goal of becoming the most welcoming and inclusive company in the industry," wrote Kristen Hines, the chief diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) officer for Activision Blizzard, in a blog post.
"We also believe this will help us meet the commitment we made in 2021 to increase the percentage of women and non-binary employees by 50% over five years."
Updated March 24, 2023 at 2:38 p.m. ET to remove video clip. After the report aired, Activision offered additional information to clarify that the company increased gender diversity in December 2022 by a fraction of a percentage and 2 percent year-over-year.
Skift airline reporter Meghna Maharishi breaks down how the government shutdown is hitting air traffic control—and what it means for travelers and flight safety
Aya Kantorovich, Co-CEO of August Digital, breaks down Bitcoin’s surge, crypto ETFs, institutional investment trends, and the future of safer crypto access.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
Sinead O’Sullivan breaks down Taylor Swift’s genius marketing for The Life of a Showgirl, which just set the record for most albums sold in a single week.
Markets are emerging from a turbulent Q3. Horizon’s Mike Dickson shares insights on interest rates, small caps, and where investors should look in Q4 and beyond
Bambu Ventures's Kyle Pretsch dives into Lemonaid’s $10M buyout, down from 23andMe’s $400M price tag, and what’s next after Chrome Co.’s dramatic pivot.
Former Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers learned all about technology’s volatile highs and lows as a veteran of the internet’s early boom days during the late 1990s and the ensuing meltdown that followed the mania. And now he is seeing potential signs of the cycle repeating with another transformative technology in artificial intelligence. Chambers is trying take some of the lessons he learned while riding a wave that turned Cisco into the world's most valuable company in 2000 before a crash hammered its stock price and apply them as an investor in AI startups. He recently discussed AI's promise and perils during an interview with The Associated Press.
