Two Epic Games directors appointed by Tencent resign, US Justice Department says

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two directors of Epic Games who had been appointed by Chinese gaming and social media firm Tencent Holdings resigned from the board of the Fortnite video game maker after the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division expressed concerns, the department said on Wednesday.

The Justice Department had been concerned that the two directors’ membership on the boards of both Epic and Tencent violated U.S. law.

Tencent owns a minority interest in Epic Games. It is also the parent company of a gaming competitor to Epic, Riot Games, the Justice Department said in a statement.

“Tencent also decided to amend its shareholder agreement with Epic to relinquish its unilateral right to appoint directors or observers to the Epic board in the future,” the department said.

It said the two directors’ positions on both the Epic and Tencent boards violated Section 8 of the Clayton Act, which prohibits directors and officers from serving simultaneously on the boards of competitors, subject to limited exceptions.

No company or individual has admitted to liability in connection with this investigation, the Justice Department added. Its statement did not name the two directors in question.

Epic Games said in an emailed statement the two Tencent-nominated board directors “who had a minority of board votes voluntarily resigned from Epic’s Board earlier this year based on the U.S. Department of Justice’s expressed concerns.”

Epic Games added that two new independent board members will be nominated by committees of its shareholders.

Tencent had no immediate comment.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler, Matthew Lewis and Lincoln Feast.)