What is Activision Hiding Until 2012?

[Loretta Tay]

Source : Spong

The thing with transparency in business - especially when it comes to filing corporate data with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the USA - is that your company might disclose some business sensitive stuff. This is why Activision Blizzard has recently asked the SEC to grant a Confidential Treatment Order for an agreement signed... in 2007.

On February 17th this year the company asked for - and was granted - an extension to the confidentiality clause initially granted on an item from its 2007 annual report (the form 10-K).

The SEC response, "Based on representations by Activision Blizzard, Inc. that this information qualifies as confidential commercial or financial information under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), the Division of Corporation Finance has determined not to publicly disclose it. Accordingly, excluded information from the following exhibit(s) will not be released to the public for the time period(s) specified:

"Exhibit 10.61 through June 20, 2012".

So, what is the deep dark secret held in Exhibit 10.6.1 of the 10-K form filed before the Activision/Vivendi/Blizzard deal?

When you carry out some research, Exhibit 10.6.1 reads: " 10.61 License Agreement for the Nintendo DS System (EEA, Australia and New Zealand), dated June 20, 2006, between Nintendo Co., Ltd. and Activision, Inc. (Portions omitted pursuant to a request for confidential treatment)."

Yes, Activision and Nintendo still want an agreement relating to the DS kept confidential until June 2012. We're digging further.