I might be out of the loop, but what is indicating that, this is what actually happened?
In either case, the leadership is not fit for, ahem, leadership.
FWIW, I had many friends spend time at Activision. Lord of the Flies is an apt description of their internal politics.
Otherwise every time you replace leadership you must immediately replace the new leadership, since they too have not instantly fixed the culture.
Mr. Kotick, who has served as CEO for more than three decades, didn’t inform the board of sexual misconduct allegations that he was aware of, including rape, against managers across the company.
The Nov. 16 article, citing interviews and internal documents, also detailed misconduct allegations against Mr. Kotick, including when an assistant complained in 2006 that he had threatened in a voice mail to have her killed.
A very odd statement to make when at this point all we know is that MSFT is acquiring Acti-Blizzard and very little information about what will happen to the latter's existing leadership post-acquisition.
Even if you believe the "maximize shareholder value" line - it is the very definition of the CEO's job to prevent stuff like this from happening.