Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has agreed to a major pay cut to both his base salary and bonuses following feedback from shareholders.
Over the past few years, the stark contrast between Kotick's monumental earnings and the way in which Activision staff have been treated has caused more than its fair share of upset across the industry. Back in 2019, following what Kotick described as a year of "record results", the company laid off a reported 800 members of staff while simultaneously offering its new CFO $15 million worth of awards.
We've seen more lay-offs at the company since then, and things won't change overnight, but it's now come to light that Kotick will reduce his own cut of company profits in a move that could be the first of some much-needed positive steps forward.
As reported by Wowhead (via GameInformer), new investor documentation reveals that Kotick has agreed to cut his earnings by 50%, and the company's Transformation Transaction Award and Shareholder Value Creation incentives will also be terminated.
"Under the Extension Amendment, effective January 1, 2021, the Compensation Committee and CEO agreed to reduce his contractually agreed-upon base salary by 50 percent to align with targets established at the bottom 25th percentile of the Company's peer group, despite the Company's strong relative performance," the document reads.
The CEO's $1,750,000 base salary has been cut to $875,000 – so, you know, he'll be okay – and a further 50% bonus reduction also has a cap of $1,750,000 for each fiscal year in 2021 and 2022. According to the investor document, the new pay program "reflects shareholder feedback, incorporates market best practices, and continues to directly connect pay to performance."
[source investor.activision.com, via wowhead.com, gameinformer.com]
Comments 66
This means nothing. Unless it turns out Activision isn't doing as well as it claims (Crash 4 flopping couldn't have been good), they'll launder all that "bonus money" into Bobby through other means. My guess is stock options.
Oh boo hoo, someone isn't getting another yacht this year.
(Also, don't ANYONE dare compare Iwata to this. This MF only did this as "goodwill" after screwing over 800 employees after a GOOD business year.)
With May Day coming up he should take to the streets in protest of his harsh salary.
And how will we confirm that these predatory individuals are not being paid in some other coin? Will the savings be converted into funds for rehiring, or the creation of a more humane workplace?
Fire Bobby Kotick.
Yeah, they are just trying to do damage control after showing how scumbaggy they are.
Offering $15 million to one person while laying off 800 people is just disgusting.
That $15 mill could have paid hundreds of people which would have enriched the company far more than a single individual ever could.
If there ever was a company that needs a 'vacation' its Activision. By that I mean enough with the yearly Call of Duty. While you are doing nothing give Treyarch a raise for saving you numerous times.
I have absolutely zero respect for this guy.
Gotta love modern accounting. A dude can have a base salary $1.75 million, and still take home $40 million a year.
Pretty gross that the guy can take a 50% pay cut and still be raking in the millions.
Man couldn't have you done this way earlier, you know, before you considered firing 800+ people?
It's about time but he's already taken far too much money off the back of other people's hard work. He's still a joke and a worthless human being
If he is one of the very best in his field why shouldn't he be so well paid?? Or do we all expect Activision to stop operating like a business and start working like an artists commune making games as a charitable endeavour. A lot of gamers seem to think being fans of games entitles them to tell these companies how they should be running themselves.
@NatiaAdamo The Nintendo fandom needs to cut out the idolatry, some awful *** happened under Iwata - Nintendo just became more brazen after his death.
Still to high, but it's a start. Kotick has always been a scumbag.
@Noid
Shhh...
@bluemage1989 If you think every CEO and "leader" is "the very best in the field", which Kotick isn't by a mile, then I have a bridge to sell you.
We don't live in a meritocracy. THQ, Enron or Target Canada are perfect examples. A CEO earning 300x the average employee is gross and unjustified.
Doesn't sound like the means have been seized quite yet 🤔
I'm sure both Diablo games coming this year will make tons of money
@BloodyMurder I thought Crash 4 did ok? I didn’t like the way they handled the switch version though I mean why no physical 😡
After seeing the gamestop ceo give himself a "farewell bonus" I'm sure Bobby will be just fine. Meanwhile those that actually work, slave away making games for hours on end get nothing besides the boot so vile humans like Bobby can continue leeching away like the parasites they are. I truly hate unchecked capitalism sometimes.
@Noid What happened under Iwata?
I'm not criticizing you, just genuinely curious.
@Pat_trick Most of the things Nintendo are criticised for today date back to the Iwata era - fangame take downs, stingy business, limited supplies, and even shutting down charity events.
https://www.polygon.com/2013/7/11/4513294/nintendo-were-trying-to-shut-down-evo-not-just-super-smash-bros-melee
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/nintendos-physical-dlc-supply-limited-toy-needed-for-new-gameplay-puzzles/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVooPZ1Ug8c
Can't tell if this is Nintendolife or The Morning Star.
That layoff was the reason for me to quit WoW and stop buying and playing Blizzard games alltogether as long as that guy is CEO.
This doesn’t change my mind.
@Slowdive
What a stupid comment. Lol
@BloodyMurder Wait, Crash 4 flopped? I thought it did well? It was a great Crash game too
@Friendly Yeah when I caught wind of the layoffs I quit too. Not giving them a dime until employees receive better salaries and are treated better in general.
@Blizzia @Outerdragon
Even counting digital (which was 400k), it sold well below Nsane and Nitro Fueled. That's bad because:
1) Making an original game cost more than remaking older ones
2) Unreal Engine 4 licensing fee takes away 5% of your gross sales
The switch version has a price cut for a reason.
How about this and... call me crazy. But how about a good game, that doesn't panders some social messages in it?
Crazy, I know. Back in the good old days, je just played games and those were amazing. Why can't we have this nowadays?
@BloodyMurder Wow that's a shame, the game is amazing and full of creativity
@Noid thanks for the info!
@BloodyMurder Ah that's a shame - it was pretty good too.
Still will make more money in a week probably even a day than most of us see in a year
$875,000?! How's a man to live off that pittance? Might as well throw him out in the street.
To me Activision have become yearly repeated sequel company. They work on making bare bones products that cut more than they add each year. To start off they made loads off of rock band and Skylanders, then went to the well once too often without anything original and got burned for it.
It may seem clever removing workforce and cutting production on original IP, but eventually COD won’t be as sturdy as it once was, and they’ll have very little to carry them. Reinvestment in your company is what keeps it in business.
@Noid Are you saying Iwata is guilty of these business practices by Nintendo? Sure, he was the head of the company, and he most likely had involvement/complicity in the initial amiibo struggles.
However, in regards to fangames, Iwata had expressed regret over the strict legal takedowns. He even hoped for a better procedure that didn't just slam anybody with a DMCA notice.
Kotick is absolutely disgusting.
@EVIL-C unless we’re in the same position, we won’t know for sure what we’ll do. It’s easy to hate on these guys. I’m not saying that they’re right, but being honest, would you say no to the amount of money that he makes if you were asked to take the same actions.
Hope the bozo gets fired! My Activision account got hacked and so I got banned from a few of my games from them and I’ve had no luck with dealing with them at all. Worst customer service I’ve ever experienced. They don’t answer calls, emails, even BBB complaints. Never buying an Activision game again unless they drastically modify their approach to customer service.
I realize my comment sounds selfish, but I know other people that have had the same issue. Just a lack of regard to people on all sides from this company and it needs to change.
I bought Tony Hawk and Crash remakes but the Crash 4 DRM and awful treatment of staff, not to mention Blitzchung, makes me avoid Activision.
@Rerun A fair question. Based on my own life experience, I'd like to think I know myself well enough and would do the right thing and recognize the excess. Few people will ever be in this situation, so it's more of a fun game of hypotheticals. Otherwise, I try to take people at their word, then observe their actions, then react accordingly.
This is not him being a good person he was basically force to do it. The guy is scum.
Everybody blaming Kotick better reconsider their next Blizzard purchase. If you don’t like the guy, and you still buy into Blizzards games and merch, then you have no right to complain. If you don’t like the guy that much, I suggest you stop buying Blizzard products so that you personally stop supporting his pay check.
I, for one, think it’s an amazing step that we rarely see from corporate CEOs. The last time I heard about this sort of pay cut, it was by the President of Nintendo over the Wii U failing to meet expectations.
NINJA APPROVED
@BloodNinja
My personal favorite Blizzard is cookie dough. Yours?
Activision is such a different company than it was back in the beginning. Obviously most of the industry has trended toward the swappable corporate shill pods instead of actual gamers/programmers but Activision has become one of worst next to EA.
@Zidentia Sorry, are you joking? I don’t understand the reference.
Kotick can now only afford to buy 5 yachts rather than 10.
Truly a tragedy.
@BloodNinja It's a dessert from a chain called Dairy Queen:
https://www.dairyqueen.com/en-us/menu/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-blizzard-treat?size=mini
In case you didn't know as to why the thing is upside-down, that's their signature. They blend/whip it until it's so thick that it can't be poured out. And, they literally have to turn it upside-down in front of you before serving it, it's their policy!
Hey if your made out of money, then a cut will do *** to you.
@masterLEON @Bloodninja
Thanks for responding.
Sucks that as the former WoW addict I was that the Blizz of 2009 is no more.
Firing people = less money spent = investors happy = CEO gets a bonus. The people deciding a CEO's pay don't even see employees as human beings, so there is nothing surprising here. I've seen it in my previous company with a despicable CEO sacking a massive amount of people just to get his bonus while being the most useless living thing on the planet (more useless than a mosquito).
@masterLEON That’s neat! Looks delicious.
Activision|Blizzard needs to stop trying to save the company and just go out of business and they should sell all their IPs to sony that way sony will own all Activision|Blizzard IPs and they can screw them up as much as they want and also that because sony will own them all Activision|Blizzard games can never be on Nintendo systems ever again, all digital versions will be removed from Nintendo's eshop and none of those characters will ever be allowed into smash
Ok, baby steps, now how about bringing those 800 layed-off employees back? You know, you could have done this sooner to prevent lay-offs. 🙄
@bluemage1989
CEO's and etc. of all companies are grossly overpaid. This isn't limited to just the games industry.
@BloodyMurder did crash 4 flop? Sure, didn’t sell like wildfire compared to n sane trilogy, but it didn’t flop by any means.
I think there’s a lot of confusion because the physical sales are lower, but that’s because the game allowed people who went digital a demo version weeks before the game released. So the die hard fans desperate to play it went digital, hence much lower physical sales. I’ve seen various estimates of how much crash 4 has sold, and regardless, not a flop.
Also, Toys for Bob, who just finished developing Crash 4, is now pretty much being relegated to a Call of Duty support studio. This follows Vicarious Visions getting absorbed into Blizzard after completing Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD.
So don't expect a new Spyro, Crash, or Tony Hawk game anytime soon.
@Kang81
It is really a Shame, they earn so much because of the "Responsibility", but if Things turn bad or they act beyond the Law, they have none to show.
@bluemage1989 I agree. Contrary to small thinking most people show here, a position of power is not something you can just go and grab for yourself. I’m sure he worked really hard to sit where he is right now and those complaining need to get their own lives sorted out first.
@horizoniki this suggests people get paid according to how hard they work. PotUS and the British Prime Minister would both like a word with you, as they both get paid significantly less than this fella.
@desireefan36 This is a certified Terry Syvertson moment
@Kienda But what if those employees were not a good fit? What if the team wasn’t? He might make the final decision, but in a company that big you have a lot of people doing months or years of research and presenting data over and over, before a massive lay off happens. He didn’t wake up and say “fire them, so I can get $15 million”.
(I don’t know who the 800 were or even who this guy is)
@Rhaoulos You sound like someone who watched Montgomery Burns on The Simpsons and think that is how real business leaders function.
I have not heard of Bobby kotick since the modern warfare 2 days! I won’t slag this guy off tho. Someone has to rule activision and I’m sure he got to where he is today by determination and hard work and perseverance.. I would never begrudge him his salary, if people are upset and they want his money then try and get his job. It’s just he is portrayed es mr evil gamer person in the media, and when his name appears we are supposed to say boooo! Like some pantomime xx
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