$200 million payout to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick draws ire
Performance-based payouts to the Activision Blizzard CEO are not sitting well with some in the finance sector.
A recent bonus payout from Activision Blizzard to its CEO Bobby Kotick is drawing outside criticism. The $200 million dollar bonus is tied to the growth in Activision Blizzard Stock value over the last couple of years, though critics argue that external factors beyond what a CEO could influence as the reason for the stock valuation.
The pushback against Kotick’s payout comes from CtW Investment Group. The firm had taken issue with the $30 million Kotick received in 2019 and reportedly have similar complaints regarding the $200 million bonus.
"While the increase in Activision's stock price is somewhat commendable, as we stated last year and continue to assert, this achievement alone does not justify such a substantial pay outcome for the CEO," director of executive compensation research Michael Varner said. "There are many factors that may contribute to a rise in this particular company's stock price that may not be directly attributable to Robert Kotick's leadership. The use of video games as one of the few entertainment options available amid the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, has been a boon to many companies in the gaming industry irrespective of executive talent or strategic decisions."
The Activision Blizzard CEO earned the $200 million bonus as a part of the Shareholder Value Creation Incentive provision in his contract. Against recent news that the company dumped nearly 200 employees this week, the exorbitant payout to its CEO feels ill-timed at best. The former employees reportedly received ninety days severance pay and a $200 Battle.net gift card.
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replyChris Jarrard posted a new article, $200 million payout to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick draws ire
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The Activision Blizzard CEO earned the $200 million bonus as a part of the Shareholder Value Creation Incentive provision in his contract. Against recent news that the company dumped nearly 200 employees this week, the exorbitant payout to its CEO feels ill-timed at best. The former employees reportedly received ninety days severance pay and a $200 Battle.net gift card.
I feel like this type of shit happens all the time.-
$200 battlenet gift card would make me homicidal
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oh man me too. holy shit.
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Holy shit I would scream at the top of my lungs
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Bobby Kotick
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We need an "oof" tag
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It’s essentially restaurant tickets
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That's fucked up. I hate executive compensation. Since I am in info sec I get to come across this stuff from time to time. Saw some VP get a million buyout just to make them go away. This was on top of their salary for a year. Meanwhile no one got a cost a living increase.
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it seems like executive compensation is specifically designed to be tone deaf
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Once you make it to executive level you can fuck up the entire company and still get paid on your way out, I hate it.
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I'm not defending the $200M payout or executives cashing in when they're directly responsible for critical business failures, but much of the time those payouts, benefit extensions, etc. exist due to the length of time that it may take that individual to find their next position. The hottest executives are always going to be in immediate demand but that's not the case for everyone. It can take 12+ months for a C-level talent to find the next organization.
/straps on helmet and hides in bunker-
You cant try to humanize millionaires here man, i recommend a quick 'fight the power' and then a quick fade away into the background
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Man that's gross, they've fired a lot of people over the past few years and then give 200 MILLION to one guy. Just ridiculously. Maybe I put too little in the abilities of a CEO, but no one employee is worth that much.
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laying people off isnt just about saving money tho, sometimes its about not paying people to sit around and do nothing if they don't have the work for them. not saying this pay packet isn't ridiculous, just that we don't really have all the facts.
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I was going to post a thoughtful response but then i saw it was you so imma just head out
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Why not invest in them to train them up for something else? Maybe just take 10 mil off the top and not wreck 200 lives.
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Honestly no idea, maybe they didnt have enough work for them in any department, like i said we dont have the full story
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What you’re describing is literally about saving money.
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I was kind of waffling on the layoffs yesterday because it sucks, but they got good severance and health benefits to keep for a year. If I left on good terms, I'd just sit on the gift card, let feelings mull over, and wait for Diablo 4 to come out to use it.
The $200 million incentive to the CEO right alongside the layoffs makes me take it all back. This was a bad move and Blizzard should feel bad.-
the problem is, they agreed to that contract with the the CEO prolly years ago, but they definitely could have timed this all better
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Severance used to be 6 months. These guys were sitting around for a year doing almost nothing. I’m not saying it’s their fault but when you notice productivity going down at your work- that’s when you find another job.
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You mean like Blackcat9 here who was laid back ff just thus/last week one week after launching the new battle.net update? Blizzard had and has no shortage of work. What they’ve repeatedly done is mass layoff people they rehire glide the exact same jobs with for less pay. It happened last time and the time before that. It had nothing to do with no work to do and all about cutting costs.
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Damn, they gave their new CFO $15 million on stock and cash just to accept the role (not sure what he was before).
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-04/activision-gives-15-million-sweetener-to-new-cfo-dennis-durkin -
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Blizzard isn't in the business of making a lot of games, though. They're in the business of making a few games that people play forever.
This story is still gross, though. CEOs can get fucked. -
for real
everything out of blizzard are just HD remasters.
its meme-able at this point.
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Reminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oMTmtN7lHI
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Game development, R&D, cash stockpile to ride out fallow times. Even in the Wii U era when executives took their pay cut they still had something like $10 billion in cash. Success in the Wii era allowed them to ride out the next wave.
R&D and hiring have also only been going up over the last decade. They benefitted a lot from consolidation in the industry over in Japan (ie - absorbing ex-Konami and Sony staff, etc)
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This is what he looks like if anyone’s wondering.
I was. https://www.wealthypersons.com/bobby-kotick-net-worth-2020-2021/
That picture should answer if he’ll give any of the money back. Or if he’ll stop doing it.
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