Top Meta Official Faces Internal Scrutiny For Doling Out Favours To Activision CEO Bobby Kotick

Meta Platforms Inc FB COO Sheryl Sandberg faced internal scrutiny for allegedly pressing a U.K. tabloid twice to shelve a potential article about her then-boyfriend, Activision Blizzard Inc ATVI CEO Bobby Kotick, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Facebook recently started a review of Sandberg's actions after the WSJ began reporting on the incidents in 2021.

Kotick has led Activision since 1991. Microsoft Corp MSFT recently agreed to snap the videogame giant by $75 billion. 

Kotick has come under pressure from shareholders, employees, and business partners after a July lawsuit by the state of California alleged widespread sexual harassment and discrimination.

In 2016 and 2019, Sandberg contacted Daily Mail's MailOnline, reporting on a temporary restraining order against Kotick by a former girlfriend in 2014.

Sandberg and Kotick developed a strategy to persuade the Daily Mail not to report on the restraining order, first when they began dating in 2016 and again after breaking up in 2019. The couple worked with a team that included Facebook and Activision employees and paid outside advisers.

In 2016 and 2019, Sandberg told the Mail that the former girlfriend had retracted the allegations. During the three years they dated, Kotick and Sandberg regularly tapped employees at one another's companies for public-relations advice, according to the WSJ.

Sandberg's legal and public-relations advisers, both inside and outside Facebook, worried that a story would negatively reflect her reputation as an advocate for women.

Price Action: FB shares traded lower by 6.51% at $187.38 on the last check Thursday.

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