Group of Activision Blizzard shareholders call for Kotick's exit

GamesIndustry.biz : Assembly also asks for the retirement of board directors Brian Kelly and Robert Morgado.

[PapaBop]

Well this is getting interesting, time to pull up my chair and grab the beer and popcorn.

[fr0sty]

it's about damn time they realized the damage he is doing to their bottom line. They would have made SO much more money without his antics.

[1nsomniac]

Words cannot express my disbelief and disappointment in this comment…

[dbcoops]

Yeah I'm sure Bobby Kotick really factored into peoples decisions to buy or not buy video games, lol.

[1Victor]

@Papa
Save me a imperial stout I’ll be there soon

[kevinsheeks]

Lol it's one thing when employees complain lmao nobody gives a fudge about staff but when shareholders do it we may have a spark folks.

[anast]

I agree, but also those employees don't unite until things are already out of hand. Imagine if they united 10 or so years ago while this stuff was going on? Or simply standing up for a colleague immediately, instead of waiting to make some money first or putting their dreams over someone else's well-being? I use "Imagine" here because these questions are an exercise in idealism.

I am happy things are changing, it better than not changing, but exploitation will happen again and again and again, it almost reminds me of that "Bill Murry" movie, "Ground Hog day" — Human's can't stop being Human.

[TricksterArrow]

They would've just fired those and buried their careers.

[anast]

@ Trickster Exactly. People make these decisions. The decision to "finally" stand up one day are based around expediency not morality. There is nothing revolutionary about any of this, it is merely cathartic expediency for the cow-eyed herd with a very few people who really about change mixed in. The whole thing is a living satire.

[LightofDarkness]

itshappening.gif

[sourOG]

“ The SOC would like to see Kelly and Morgado replaced with diverse directors” lol… never wasted

I don’t even think the threat of voting out board members is enough to take kotick down. They definitely have more leverage than a Twitter walk out though.

[porkChop]

The company is nothing without its investors. They have to take this seriously. The shareholders vote on things like bonuses, pay increases for high-level execs, etc. They can't afford to piss off the shareholders.

[sourOG]

It depends on the weight of “Soc” votes or if this is just a fluff piece from fake news promoting diversity. I have some shares in take2 and I got to vote on board members. It’s foolish to think my vote meant anything though lol. Not all share holders are equal.

[sourOG]

Even if SOC did have the weight to tip the scale their demands were really bad in terms of negotiations and persuasion. About as amateur as the Twitter organized walk out which makes me think they aren’t a serious threat.

If you want to get rid of board members because they are too white, too male or anything else that has nothing to do with sexual harassment/assault then you give away your power. You imply that you are going to vote against them regardless of what they do so they have nothing to lose. You made the decision for them and the only way to get rid of them now is to actually vote them out lol. Good luck.

I have no love for activision or kotick. I’d love to see them collapse I’m just trying to set expectations appropriately as a realist.

[fr0sty]

It depends on how much fallout this article generates... the more people outraged, the more money lost, the more shareholders will join their ranks calling for his head. Even Sony is commenting on his actions, you don't want to piss off the owners of the platform that makes up the majority of your console install base. I imagine behind the scenes, there are phone calls taking place between some very powerful people in various companies about him. For every 1 word against him spoken publicly, 100 get spoken behind closed doors. Me thinks the snowball has started rolling down the hill...

[sourOG]

This article means less than Sony’s opinion lol. Sony isn’t going to ban activision games. You’re assuming that most share holders care about this more than money. You’re assuming somebody else wouldnt scoop up kotick as soon as he was let go. A snowball is possible but I think it’s unlikely anything changes.

[prophecy]

It has nothing to do with too white or too male in reality, aka outside of right wing fantasy land.

It has to do with his management which lead to this situation. If he had done his job properly and protected his employees and by extension the investors, the people who initially caused this would have been fired, and this situation wouldn't even exist.

It sad that you (and so many others) want to blame this on politics instead of facts about why this is happening.

"You imply that you are going to vote against them regardless of what they do so they have nothing to lose"

Ya know, except their cushy well paying jobs and reputations... Don't let your employees get away with rape and you get to keep your job... pretty simple ask imho.

[sourOG]

@prophecy

It’s what they said in the demands lmao. I literally quoted them you idiot. I’m not defending activision.

I’m not “right wing” either I’m just dropping facts on you. I didn’t bring politics into it, the SOC’s demands did. I’m also calling that stupid. It was a bonehead negotiation tactic, goober Twitter shit.

Ok let’s put it this way. Aside from being there 40 years, why do you think Kotick makes the ridiculous salary that he does? Share holders vote on bonuses right? It’s because they don’t want him to leave. He would go somewhere else and make that money. So logically you would have to lose 40 million in a year or whatever his ridiculous salary is before they would even bat an eye at replacing him.

I’m just trying to relax the expectations of the situation, not make it political. The whole “it’s finally happening!!!” Thing is just setting yourself up to be disappointed. The odds aren’t even close to being in your favor and this isn’t as devastating as you think it is.

[fr0sty]

If Sony finds themselves in a position where supporting Kotick comes across as supporting his actions, you can bet they will put as much pressure on him to leave as they can... and the shareholders do only care about money, the money that will dry up when people start shying away from their company over Kotick's actions. This is sending Tsunami sized ripples through the industry. The shareholders are taking notice, and watching their wallets closely. If one dollar comes out of those due to Kotick, he's a goner. Now even Xbox is "reevaluating their relationship with Activision". There is major pressure coming from all sides here, Kotick's goose is cooked.

Also, OG, it's entirely possible to get your point across without insults... just saying.

[sourOG]

@frosty
Would you boycott Sony if they didn’t stop supporting activision games because kotick didn’t fire a guy over harassment? Of course not. They wouldn’t do it first of all, and we would still support them. It’s not a realistic view to think Sony has any power over them in terms of choosing their CEO and board members lol.

Which share holders? The SOC? Kotick has made the share holders more money than you can dream of and has done it for a long time. He’s not directly implicated in any sexual misconduct. He believed a high tier employee over a less seasoned employee. That’s his crime. Welcome to corporate. That high tier employ that just resigned had more leverage than the girl he harassed. You know who he didn’t have more leverage than? Kotick. He was gone before the story even came out lol. That’s how it works.

Kotick being evil in the news isn’t new lol. It’s PR talk, Sony boss is “stunned”, Xbox “reevaluating relationship”. That’s the extent of their disassociation. They were probably asked to comment by the usual suspects and of course they are going to distance themselves publicly. I don’t think the private talks are going as badly as you think they are lol.

Hinging your entire momentum on media manipulation isn’t going to work on anyone with average intelligence. Activision and bad press are synonymous lol. They are awful and everyone knows it. Nothing is going to happen. If im wrong I will eat that crow but my expectations are level headed. I just know how scum works.

I wasn’t insulting anyone dude. I called that guy an idiot for misinterpreting what I was saying and then calling me a right winger in delusion land like I’m making it up lol. Just because im not some dirty dink commie screaming “eat the rich!” Doesn’t make me a right winger lol. I probably hate corporations more than y’all do.

I didn’t bring up replacing the board with diverse directors lol. That was their demand. I’m just saying that’s a dumb thing to bring up in negotiation. Completely off focus and amateur. An idiot hijacking so to speak, a Twitter wishlist basically.

If you are board member and somebody says I’m going to vote against you unless you get rid of kotick. And then say oh yeah replace these 2 with diverse people also. As a board member you know they are voting against you regardless of what you do. So screw them, take your demands and pound sand, right? Vote me out if you can, I’m not giving you shit. If you can’t then sell your stock, I’ll buy it.

They could have turned the board (doubtful but possible) until they said their demands. They can’t be taken seriously. It’s why I doubt their significance and this is just an attempt to amplify like you said. It’s nothing real, it’s media mirrors.

[porkChop]

This is good news. We've even seen some of the studio leads leaving because of scummy behaviour. Take out the trash, bring in fresh talent, and foster a healthier culture company-wide. Activision Blizzard might come out a better company because of this, and with new studio/team leads the games might get better too.

[sourOG]

Or crash and burn and sell off your IPs, good riddance. It’s happened to way better companies.

[Relientk77]

Damn day after day it's just Activision Blizzard news article one after the other. Activision is falling apart.

[TakeTori]

This is good. He needs to be thrown out the door head first. I just don't see this company changing regardless. I hope I'm wrong, but what's stopping the next goon from being just as bad?

[sourOG]

What’s stopping Kotick from becoming CEO of a company you actually like when you get him thrown out of activision? Leave him there and stop messing with him. Let him have his empire of shit. If you work there and have any sense find a better company to work for.

[galgor]

Been waiting for this moron to be kicked out for years.. it's finally happening!

[XiNatsuDragnel]

I'm with the shareholders on this one tbh Bobby needs to go in my opinion.

[SullysCigar]

👋🙂 Bye bye Bobby 🤞

[HeliosHex]

The employees at Activision can teach unions how to get things done.

[anast]

I don't know if it's the context or what, but this Bobby guy looks like a goblin.

[antikbaka]

I'd rather get rid of useless Blizzard than Bobby.

[BlaqMagiq1]

Why not both?

[antikbaka]

all this shitstorm s coming from Blizzard department, not Activision. Something has rotten in the former one.

[BlaqMagiq1]

This man done now.

[Tetsujin]

This is what happens when that dollar comes first. Maybe next time treating your employees like actual humans, and putting the needs of your workers first will net more for the company instead of just making more money.

He's the biggest reason why I stopped buying Activision games after his quote back during MW2 release in 2009 regarding cutting content and selling back to the customer as dlc.

[TheEnigma313]

This guy is nothing but a nasty lil cretin that has been bad for gaming for far too long.

[TheEnigma313]

Kotick is in here downvoting

[Parasyte]

It’s a very small group of shareholders that have no real power.

[Monkeycan8]

He should have been out years ago.

[Traecy]

Good.