Resignation of Epic Games Directors

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two directors of Epic Games, appointed by Tencent Holdings, resigned from the Fortnite maker's board after concerns from the U.S. Justice Department regarding antitrust laws.

The Justice Department expressed worries that the dual membership of these directors on both the Epic and Tencent boards violated U.S. law. Tencent holds a minority stake in Epic Games and is the parent company of Riot Games, a competitor.

In response to the Justice Department's concerns, Tencent amended its shareholder agreement with Epic to surrender its right to appoint directors or observers to the Epic board in the future.

This action was taken due to a potential violation of Section 8 of the Clayton Act, which forbids directors and officers from holding positions on the boards of competing companies, with limited exceptions. The Justice Department noted that no entity has accepted liability in relation to this case, though the two directors involved were not named.

Epic Games and Tencent have not provided immediate comments on this situation.