Reduced Pay for Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Narrowly Approved by Shareholders

Posted 2021/06/24 at 1:35 AM by Archimtiros

$41 million in stock bonusesCEO agreed to cut his base salary and annual bonus by 50%the reduction was not enoughGamesIndustry.biz

Michael Varner, CtW

"Activision will be expected to make even further changes in response to a vote where 46% of shareholders expressed discontent, they will not be able to 'rest on their laurels' solely with the changes they made thus far to Mr. Kotick's pay. Also, this marks the sixth time in the past eight years Activision has received less than 70% support for its Say on Pay proposal, and the 2021 vote is the lowest support the company has received on this proposal in its history."2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders

2021 Annual Meeting

The independent members of the Activision Blizzard Board have determined, based on requests from shareholders, that it is necessary and appropriate to leave voting for the Proposal open in order to provide shareholders with adequate time to review and consider the Company’s recent responses to statements that were published and recirculated about the Company’s executive compensation practices that the Company believed to be misleading, in particular related to CEO and COO compensation. The Board members believe that obtaining informed shareholder feedback related to Activision Blizzard’s compensation policies and practices is of fundamental importance, and therefore, allowing additional time for shareholders to meaningfully participate in the vote better represents their interests.

The Company’s recent responses highlighted the following points and corrections:

Despite exceptional shareholder returns the Company has made significant changes to address shareholder feedback – Meaningful executive compensation changes have been made to address shareholder concerns directly, including an amended and extended contract for our CEO.
The Company has made substantial and sustainable reductions in CEO compensation – The Company’s amended CEO contract has had an immediate and sustainable impact on our CEO’s compensation by:
Decreasing our CEO’s base salary and cash bonus by 50% and putting his target cash compensation at the bottom 25th percentile of the CEOs in the Company’s peer group;
Ensuring that 95% of our CEO’s total compensation is performance-based and fully at risk;
Capping our CEO’s 2021 and 2022 target equity bonuses below the median of the Company’s peer group; and
Ensuring that our CEO’s equity bonuses are shaped, in part, by his success in driving a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace and in making the Company’s operations even more sustainable.

The Company has more closely aligned CEO and shareholder interests – The Company has increased its CEO equity-holding requirement to 50x his base salary, representing among the highest in the S&P 500.
The Company has significantly reduced the 2021 CEO incentive award – The Company’s Compensation Committee, after discussions with our CEO, took a significant step to reduce the originally-anticipated value of his 2021 performance-based equity award – reducing the value of its maximum payout opportunity by approximately 40%.
Previous support for the Company’s Say-on-Pay proposals – Despite some recent claims to the contrary, Activision Blizzard has not repeatedly received low votes on its Say-on-Pay proposals in recent years. In 2019, the Company’s Say-on-Pay proposal received support from 82% of shareholders, and in 2018 it received support from 92% of shareholders.shareholders rejected Bob Iger's $48.5 million compensation package

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Comment by BashcutterRemovedComment by cressyfrostStill rich, move alongComment by DarkvilsIs it just a coincidence that he looks like exactly like Gallywix ?Comment by BlutduscherSimply seeing his face makes me aggressive.Comment by 1296443Oh no, he might throw a fit like when a rich frat boy's dad takes away the platinum American Express card.
How will he survive with only 2 new yachts per year instead of 4?Comment by DiehexeNormally I don't like ranting but this article has absolutely nothing to do with World of Warcraft. I mean, why do we even care about Activision CEO who probably have very few impact on how WoW progresses?Comment by newBlockWhen the executives are so greedy that even shareholders tell them be less greedy.

Only at Activision.Comment by NewTrollThis is good because based on both Activision and Blizzard's performance, he is not performing well as a leader. This doesn't help WoW get back on its feet at all though, which means that as far as I'm concerned this story is a big nothing burger. Yay, he can't afford a 5th boat— but the devs are still drowning people in grindy and unsatisfying gameplay systems nobody wants, assassinating long-loved Warcraft characters that everyone loves, and all of the things players are demanding are still being thrown to the wayside.Comment by Scattabrained04He still makes more in a bonus than 10,000 of us combined will make in most of our lives. What a crock of horse ^&*! that we are expected to chew on while we constantly pay monthly for this game that falls under the Acti/Blizz banner and doesn't give us half the !@#$ that we want.Comment by Smajli91Now give that money to employees and you have a somewhat decent companyComment by BeedrillEURemovedComment by ZeionsSo weird to see gamers pretend they know anything about corporate governance.Comment by machopiRemovedComment by darkage2When the executives are so greedy that even shareholders tell them be less greedy.

Only at Activision.Comment by lovelywaz"Base Salary" for him is like some pocket change, or even less than that. Don't really need a big headline for this reduction. :P

Only if the headline actually read "His bonuses and dividend reduced by 50%", now THAT will be a headline to read :DComment by AnsymarNice. WoW just might get to live until 10.0.Comment by AgathonRemovedComment by RarbouThey could hire more people or get more resources to develop new or existing games. But instead they lay off 800 developers and pay big bonuses to their CEO.

Year 2019 - 800 people layoff
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2019/02/12/activision-blizzard-to-layoff-nearly-800-employees/amp/

Year 2021 - another 190 layoffs
https://nordic.ign.com/news/44523/activision-blizzard-has-reportedly-laid-off-nearly-190-employeesComment by VeggieMeatThey could hire more people or get more resources to develop new or existing games. But instead they lay off 800 developers and pay big bonuses to their CEO.

Year 2019 - 800 people layoff
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2019/02/12/activision-blizzard-to-layoff-nearly-800-employees/amp/

Year 2021 - another 190 layoffs
https://nordic.ign.com/news/44523/activision-blizzard-has-reportedly-laid-off-nearly-190-employeesComment by SaberiaGiven the quality of recent releases, they were probably deadweight.

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