Activision Blizzard CEO Criticized Over $200 Million Stock Bonus

Blizzard Posted 2021/03/18 at 5:34 PM by Archimtiros

Shareholder Value Creation Incentiveaverage stock priceclimbed continually over the past five yearsall time highsreported to be in declinelaying off employees amid a pandemicCall of DutyWhile 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. 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.mission statementBobby Kotick's incentive based salaryEA executive pay

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Comment by BelatherixHere is an idea, the item two below this one is about raising money for doctors without borders. How about you donate that stock to them.Comment by KakistocratFeels a bit like gaming the system to get the bonus. Just fire people, get bonus and then rehire them again. To get a temporary surge in stock that wont last or is even harmful to the company. That's kind of a sucky contract they made. :sComment by S4m0thimagine how many wages you can raise with 200M USD or how many bonuses you can give to employees...Comment by apostolosapokWhat if i told you that we could change that, just stop your wow subscription until Kotick gets fired, Blizzard will have to let him go simple as that.Comment by wowdm6So, I wanted to add my 2 cents on this debate on cost and pay. The company gave him shares at a value to the company of $0.000001. This did not cost the company anything because the company holds X number of shares in the company, many of which did not cost anything. There is a contract where he gets more of a stake in the company based on the companies performance while he is in control, this is normal in the business world. Now, the value of those shares today might be $200m but he is not able to sell them or cash them out due to regulations.

So, think of it this way. Over the last few years the company has gained over 5 billion in value. Regardless of where the value came from his contract states that if the company does well then he gets a bonus. The value of the shares today is only 4% of the gained value in the last few years. So, is it absolutely terrible for someone to get a 4% bonus for going a good job.

Now, put it back in to an employee perspective. How would you feel if your employer gave you a 4% raise based only on the value you added to the company while you worked there for 5 years. Then said we are going pay this to you in a form of certificate that you can not cash, but hold on to and might be worth more in the future... I am sure most employee would reject this and blame the company for coming up with some creative way to give you a raise without actually paying you anything...

I feel we get caught up in the intrinsic numbers and not percents. Everyone gets paid much different salaries across the country, what is considered fair to one is unfair to another. I say until anyone on this site actually runs ATVI and increases its value by 5 billion, then you really have no idea what it takes or what it is worth, nor do you have any right to judge.

Good job Kotick! Thank you for making ATVI worth more today, thank you for pushing the company to new levels so we can continue to enjoy the games ATVI has created. I look forward to the new games and updates that continue.Comment by DiorbhailUnpopular opinion: Blizz has hundreds of lawyers. If all of them were stupid enough not to specify how this bonus has to be obtained other then "stock is stable over 3 months", accepted this clause in the contract with THIS sum, they have to pay. Not because it's justified to get so much money but because of their stupidity. Your actions have consequences, even for Activision.Comment by KomesarBlizzard: gives $200 million to Kotick.

Also Blizzard:
- Fires 190 people because they aint got funding.
- Cuts costs on Reforged.
- Cuts costs on Shadowlands features (and features themselves).
- Hires cheaper "specialists" in about every department who produce questionable mechanics / bugged content / absurd lore findings.
- Cancels Heroes of the Storm because go to hell, that's why.

Anyone seeing a major logic hole here?Comment by TheWhiteInfernoMaybe Bobby can help us out and pay the $1 million Drs Without Borders charity goal himself. It’d only cost 0.005% of his stock bonus to do so.Comment by WillowwhispHistory has proven time and time again that this is not a sustainable way to operate a society. It's not gonna be a pretty ending either.Comment by NessahelyanLike it's not blatantly clear that they offer a *free mount with six-month sub* in the quarters they need the numbers.Comment by Nessahelyanwe want that slothComment by ApollomantisThis is what 100% bothers me about the game, is the poor balance that blizzard implements, and I get a game will never be 100% balanced. Yet they could of done much better than they did, and it just makes fights feel cheap at best. When a broken class just sets up, and then pushes a single button and in half a second 100-0's you, the entire game is honestly a sham.Comment by FrostyboltsMan, they could've paid 500 artists $80k + benefits for a year for ~$60M to go through and update all the WoW gear models/rigging so we could actually have different body shapes in the game

Hell, they could have paid 1 artists to make a third vampire model for Revendreth NPCsComment by BeerWolfDamn all to do with leadership, the pus stain was lucky due to the pandemic which resulted in a LOT of people world wide playing games while on lockdown!

Absolutely disgusting having the audacity of calling "saving costs" for the Company while giving out this huge amount of money that would cover all those jobs for many years over.

Seriously, screw Blizzard... Smiling mask with a hideous face under it, pretending to be a 'nice and progressive' company.Comment by Tirondeimagine how many wow tokens you could buy with $200 million dollars..Comment by DeadRitesGame devs need to unionize asapComment by Probuffwowhead doesnt care about freedom of speech :) they're apparently above thatComment by PieceOfPanicLike I said before.
But got deleted.

We're looking at a dying industry, with revenue as the only indicator.

Good luck everyone.
-I hope you all have phones.Comment by AvelionImagine being underpaid for years, trying to survive in world wide pandemic yet still be fired just to see CEO getting 200 million dollars.
Slap in the face.Comment by thomaslvnvFire Bobby. No one likes him, no one wants him. He doesn't help the company, he just sucks and sucks money away.

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