back to article Activision shareholders demand Kotick's head after CEO 'failed' to take claims of staff sex assault seriously

A group of Activision Blizzard investors called for CEO Bobby Kotick to resign on Wednesday, claiming he knew about sexual harassment and assault claims made against his staff for years and failed to adequately address them. The shareholders, who together own a fraction of the gaming giant, also urged chairman Brian Kelly and …

  1. Michael Hoffmann Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Of course, he's stepping down!

    This delay is purely the result of negotiations and quibbling about just how ginormous his golden parachute will be.

    1. jason_derp

      Re: Of course, he's stepping down!

      I'm skeptical this had anything to do with the allegations at all, and is merely convenient. Recently, Kotick was a bit of a standout for being maybe the only American executive ever to get told by his shareholders that maybe he didn't need bonuses the size he was getting for himself when compared to every other video game company executive, or something thereabouts.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How is the latest Call of Duty selling?

    Apparently it's not doing so well in the UK, according to

    https://wccftech.com/call-of-duty-vanguard-worst-launch-14-years-free-multiplayer-trial/

    Well, it's still number 1 in the bestseller charts, but not doing as well as last year's version. If lower sales cause a drop in the share price, then it could cause change at the top, regardless of the toxic culture revelations.

    (Off-topic: calling Kotick a multimillionaire may be technically correct, but seems to sell him a bit short. The Reg article reporting his much-publicised paycut noted that he had received stock-based pay of $155M in June, and was estimated to be worth between $600M and $7B.)

    1. ArrZarr Silver badge

      Re: How is the latest Call of Duty selling?

      CoD is a cash cow, no doubt, but it's a buy once own forever kind of deal (I have no doubt that Activision have added in microtransactions), but it's Warcraft that has the most profitable business model. Huge numbers of expansions sold and £10/$15 subscription fees from all the active players.

      I cancelled my sub a couple of weeks after the original lawsuit came to light but I hear that Shadowlands is going to probably be a 3 year expansion that's already been received poorly.

      People have called WoW a dead game for years now but I fear that it truly is collapsing under its own weight now.

  3. KBeee
    Unhappy

    What is wrong with this picture?

    Rape? Sexual assault? Sexual harrasment? Gender discrimination? No worries. Minor inconveniences.

    But reduced payouts to shareholders? Withold info from the Board? SACK THE CEO and CALL THE LAWYERS!!!

    1. John Riddoch

      Re: What is wrong with this picture?

      Yup, the SEC were also investigating "whether the games giant disclosed the sexual and employment misconduct claims to investors in time before the scandals were exposed publicly" (https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/21/activision_blizzard_sec_subpoenaed/).

      1. yetanotheraoc Silver badge

        which investors?

        I'm puzzled. I'm an investor, and the only disclosures of sexual and employment misconduct claims I get are from the press, as happened here. Under what circumstances are investors are entitled to a disclosure from the corporation, timely or otherwise? Or is it that all investors are entitled, but only the muscular ones can punish the corporation for not doing it?

  4. Mike Friedman

    Of course he knew. No one believes he didn’t. But even if he didn’t know he should be fired for THAT. The behavior is so egregious.

    My favorite detail is that they’re going to ban drinking booze at work but haven’t done so yet. Never get drunk at work. Why is this complicated?

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