Activision Blizzard Shareholders Want to Keep Overpaying Bobby Kotich

Activision Blizzard has managed to stumble from being one of the most beloved game companies out there to being just another group of jerks being jerks and getting paid to do it. This is thanks in no small part to their CEO, Bobby Kotich, who is rather famous for being one of the most highly-paid CEOs in America even when routinely laying off and underpaying employees to keep their company making money. Recently, he agreed to a 50% pay cut that ultimately didn’t amount to much, since he still gets so much cash in awards and bonuses that he’s still swimming in dough, and now we’re seeing that despite the bad press and the efforts of CtW Investor’s Group, who have been rallying to reduce his pay for years now, he’s going to continue to get overpaid for a long, long time yet.

This is because at a recent shareholder’s meeting, 54% of the shareholders — a narrow margin, but enough to pass — agreed to continue maintaining his generous compensation package and enormous salary. An Activision Blizzard justified his enormous pay with the following:
 

“Mr. Kotick, the longest tenured CEO of a public technology company, has transformed Activision Blizzard, achieved record results, doubled the value of the company, and delivered more than $45 billion in additional shareholder value since his employment agreement took effect in October 2016. Under his leadership, he has turned Activision Blizzard into one of the most important and valuable entertainment and technology companies in the world, increased jobs, and led major strategic investments that have enabled the company to far outpace most of its peers.”

It’s undeniable that Activision-Blizzard is doing well: if that were the only metric to judge a man on, he’d earn his pay and then some. It’s how he managed to make that money, with the aforementioned layoffs and pay cuts, while he’s still rolling in cash, that puts a bad taste in most people’s mouth.

But that’s capitalism, baby.