Third parties, including persons known to Activision Blizzard's CEO, seem to have made rather a lot of investments prior to the announcement of the proposed transaction.

Microsoft in January agreed to acquire Activision for $95 a share, or $68.7 billion in total, in the biggest video-gaming industry deal in history.

 Activision Blizzard said it was cooperating with federal investigations into trading by friends of its chief executive shortly before the gaming company disclosed its sale to Microsoft.

It received requests for information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and received a subpoena from a Department of Justice grand jury.

Media moguls Barry Diller and David Geffen, and investor Alexander von Furstenberg, acquired share options after von Furstenberg met with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and days before it disclosed the sale to Microsoft, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.

This was a little odd as Activision embroiled in a scandal and its share price was lower than a snake’s belly.

Diller said that he acted on the belief that Activision was undervalued and had the potential for going private or being acquired.