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The most important question I have is: will they replace Bobby Kotick? EDIT: "Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard. [...] he and h
by 1_player 5y ago
The most important question I have is: will they replace Bobby Kotick?
EDIT: "Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard. [...] he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company’s culture."
Shame on you, Microsoft.
- arketyp 5y agoCan you supply some context to this denounciation?
- 1_player 5y ago"Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Knew for Years About Sexual-Misconduct Allegations at Videogame Giant" https://www.wsj.com/articles/activision-videogames-bobby-kotick-sexual-misconduct-allegations-11637075680 https://www.wsj.com/articles/activision-videogames-bobby-kot... — mirror at https://archive.fo/fzdAv https://archive.fo/fzdAv And if you're completely out of the loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Department_of_Fair_Employment_and_Housing_v._Activision_Blizzard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Department_of_Fair_...
- nindalf 5y agoThere’s probably an essay that could be written to answer your question, but the short version is that Kotick is not a gamer, but an executive. He specialises in extracting maximum value from an existing property, everything else be damned. For example, Activision had a successful franchise Call of Duty that did releases every 2 years or so. Kotick’s insight was that they could release one every year and basically print money. He was right. He then used that money to acquire Blizzard, a company that had many beloved franchises. He then applied those same principles to the running of Blizzard, to the point where the company releases half baked, buggy, awful excuses for games. An example of this is Warcraft III Reforged. They did it because re-releases of old games are a reliable way to monetise nostalgia. And that’s just the somewhat justifiable part. Because making money is good, right? Shareholders love that shit. What’s less defensible is the toxic work culture that was fostered under him, where sexual harassment was endemic. Of course he never saw the fallout of that. They fired some patsies and called it a day.
- disgruntledphd2 5y ago> For example, Activision had a successful franchise Call of Duty that did releases every 2 years or so. Kotick’s insight was that they could release one every year and basically print money. To be fair though, they put two studios on it, which is very unlike other annual games, and a much better approach for WLB and avoiding (some) crunch.
- elaus 5y agoAs a developer I have a strong dislike against CEOs that say things like... > The goal that I had (...) was to take all the fun out of making video games. > The executive said that he has tried to instill into the company culture "skepticism, pessimism, and fear" of the global economic downturn https://www.gamespot.com/articles/activision-games-to-bypass-consoles/1100-6226758/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/activision-games-to-bypass...
- raxxorrax 5y agoI remember a Starcraft II fan map named Bobby Kotick TD. If he hits you, you loose money. If you hit him, you loose money too. It was banned after a short time. To be honest, I think Microsoft and Activision deserve each other.
- miked85 5y agoAt least you don't lose money though.
- geoduck14 5y ago>I remember a Starcraft II fan map named Bobby Kotick TD. If he hits you, you loose money. If you hit him, you loose money too. I love it! Political Opinions as a Game!
- 3np 5y agoMaybe you'll be happy to hear that Polandball have a game on Steam..
- baal80spam 5y agoActivision's value skyrocketed under Kotick, not sure why they would want to replace him.
- madeofpalk 5y agoOn the other hand, since the news that he knew about years of sexual harassment at the company the stock has dropped 33%. If "maximising shareholder value" is the only metric for success it seems that making one of your employees kill themselves for failing to tackle a culture of abuse seems like a poor way to do that.
- slothtrop 5y agoCorporations should be about maximizing value for all stakeholders, not just shareholders. Historically the creation of a corporation had to be justified to be in the interest of public good. Anyway I agree.
- abduhl 5y agoAnd 100% of that drop (and more?) has been recovered for shareholders by this acquisition. One could argue that Microsoft would have paid more, and I’m sure some enterprising lawyers will get paid by tricking some shareholders into suing over that, but that’s like arguing with the waves about when high tide is.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- freeflight 5y agoI don’t think this acquisition is about stock value as much as it is about acquiring IP and games for MS game pass offering.
- boringg 5y agoKotick got a good run for the shareholders - he's now a liability having had all the sexual harassment under his watch. The sexual harassment/lack of leadership discipline has discounted the sale price of ATVI (microsoft swoops in) - he sticks with firm for a bit during transition to ensure smooth transfer and steps away afterwards. I don't see any other way - he's become a liability especially for a company like Microsoft.
- gostsamo 5y ago
- Someone1234 5y agoIs this a reference to something specific?
- thedevelopnik 5y agoBill Gates. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/microsoft-bill-gates-sexual-harassment-gender-discrimination-investigation-2022-1?op=1 https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/microsoft-bi...
- gostsamo 5y agoYep, Gates.
- zadjii 5y agoLiterally the next sentence: > Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming. So no, they aren't keeping him around. Good call.
- ferdowsi 5y agoThat doesn't say that Kotick will be gone, it says that he'll be reporting up to Microsoft.
- uptown 5y agoCorporate speak sometimes requires you to read between the lines.
- mandis 5y agoThats what I thought. A CEO reporting to a CEO isnt going to end well.
- mbg721 5y agoGo ahead, name a country that doesn't have two presidents. A boat that sets sail without two captains.
- bidirectional 5y agoWho exactly do you think the CEO of Microsoft Gaming reports to? This is a pretty common corporate structure. I've worked under a total of 4 CEOs in a hierarchy before (CEO of an investment firm reports to CEO of the owning bank's European investment division reports to CEO of Europe reports to actual CEO).
- mandis 5y agoCEO within CEO is for separate Business Units or divisions, which is clearly not the case here.
- b3lvedere 5y agoMaybe they can't get rid of Mr. Kotick yet..
- nobodyofnote 5y agoI share your dismay. Even if you're someone who doesn't care about the issues that have come to light over the past year, the blatant mismanagement (dare I say running into the ground) of the once golden Blizzard portfolio has been painful as a long-time Starcraft 2 fan. For a moment, I was truly hopeful that we might see some reinvigoration for blundered projects like the Warcraft III reforged. Perhaps even some hope that Microsoft might breathe new life into Starcraft II, which still stands as an incredible game. /sigh
- Someone1234 5y agoEverything under Blizzard's portfolio feels like it has been left to rot. The only thing they seem to put effort into is their Pay-To-Win card game, Hearthstone. Unfortunately even under new management I don't see Starcraft getting much love, the focus is now on cross-platform games and RTS games are PC only (which is a small niche compared to the overall market).
- junon 5y agoYep. Overwatch is an empty husk of a game and community it once was.
- 2pEXgD0fZ5cF 5y agoGiven how ActiBlizz doesn't even want to acknowledge Starcrafts existence anymore, excluding it from Blizzcon e-sport highlights and leaving the broken ranked system unfixed for I don't even know long it's been, I believe change in company culture there would need to be pretty substantial to bring some love back to Starcraft.
- Iolaum 5y agoMoreover I recall them saying SC2 was the final chapter on the IP. I mean now that MS owns them maybe they can pull a Win11 :p
- indigochill 5y agoThey catapulted over the shark with the conclusion of SC2's campaign, so it wouldn't surprise me, buuut if I've learned anything in this era of reboots, it's that no IP is really dead, some of them just hibernate for a while, and promises a popular franchise is done aren't worth the electrons inconvenienced to convey it.
- sbarre 5y agoThis can't be permanent. I bet this is to keep the markets happy in the short term while this gets absorbed, and then Kotick will "retire" at some point in the next year.
- joaodlf 5y agoI'd buy shares right now if they had gotten rid of Kotick.
- techdragon 5y agoEven though it would cost an additional $275 ish million?
- g051051 5y agoThe reason he's still there is because this deal has probably been in the works for a while, and they weren't going to cut him loose until it settled. I'm sure that as soon as it's possible after the acquisition that he'll suddenly decide to spend more time with his family, pursue other interests, or get sent to the farm to play with the other dogs, whatever euphemism you like.
- this_user 5y agoIf you take over a company, you don't necessarily want to plunge it into even more chaos than the acquisition will create already by immediately getting rid of the CEO. It's entirely possible that they will get rid of him after a transition phase.
- geoduck14 5y agoI'm hiring now, and I had the pleasure of interviewing someone who was leaving Blizzard. He was pretty sharp and I was bummed that I had to pass on him. Anyway, I think this acquisition will actually stop the bleeding snd create some stability
- tallanvor 5y agoHonestly, this is the sort of thing they have to say right now - the deal isn't closed yet, and saying they're going to dump him might lead to shareholder lawsuits, especially if the acquisition is blocked. Realistically, there's a high chance that within a few months of the acquisition being completed he'll be expected to leave quietly.
- Frost1x 5y agoBusinesses learned long ago there are plenty of very easy legal ways of making people leave of "their own accord" by adjusting work environment factors to a point no sane person would stay in the position.
- mesaframe 5y agoRead the whole paragraph. Once the deal closes Activision will report to Phil.
- mercy_dude 5y agoOr May be the whole woke uprising thing was to drive the market cap down so Microsoft could get a better deal. As usual the media doing the bidding for the big tech.
- maweki 5y agoDismay over Kotick actively hiding sexual abuse and protecting the abusers is a "woke uprising"? That's a shitty take.
- keewee7 5y agoI'm not American but on this side of the pond we expect more proof than twitter allegations before firing people. Hopefully woke culture will take more of a toll on US tech and we will see more US companies opening up in Europe. The US tech centralization is bad for the world (and US consumers).
- JaimeThompson 5y agoAre CEOs who make 100+ million USD per year responsible for the behavior of those under them? What about when they are informed of such behavior and do nothing? Sometimes it seems we hold those working the drive-thru window at a fast food place to a higher standard than major CEOs.
- maweki 5y agoThere's more to it than twitter allegations, you know. Real people have been hurt. https://www.wsj.com/articles/activision-videogames-bobby-kotick-sexual-misconduct-allegations-11637075680 https://www.wsj.com/articles/activision-videogames-bobby-kot...
- mercy_dude 5y agoI am not saying real people weren’t hurt. But some of these allegations are years old. You don’t think those same insiders who were pushing those stories in news media could buy the lows and now riding the spike in the stock price?
- Ekaros 5y agoProbably keep him until they restructure the Activision Blizzard somewhat. Like Separating Blizzard and studios under Activision if needed.
- bredren 5y agoNo way Microsoft lets this guy stick around. This is the best soft landing the board could possibly provide for the ceo.
- rkalla 5y agoI would _guess_ that ousting a CEO AND acquiring the core company at the same time are expensive propositions - I'd also guess that MSFT fully plans to address the leadership issue there (Kotick) but going to give him a year to age out of the newly acquired company and take his golden parachute elsewhere. Smaller M&A where it's easier to swap the leader (like a startup - which most of us are used to) is MUCH easier/cheaper/faster than swapping out an established CEO of a public company. They'll do it because he's a liability and they want to make a statement to the new company - but it'll be slow.
- wombat-man 5y agoyeah, it's going to take a little time for Microsoft to worm its fingers in there and get a feel for a massive org like that. I've got a feeling Kotick is going to be out of there within a few years.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Bayart 5y agoDoes anyone has any doubts it's anything but a transitional position ?
- cableshaft 5y agoStephen Totilo shared this back in June of last year. Apparently Bobby's got an agreement signed that if he gets terminated he makes $292 million off of it, double what he made last year. So that might be part of it. https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1407658278893592579 https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1407658278893592579
- techdragon 5y agoHow long is that valid for? Also does buyout by Microsoft count as a “change of control” … I’d bet Microsoft would wait out whatever time span that’s valid for and then immediately refuse to give him another one and can him…
- JaimeThompson 5y agoAgreements like that are evidence that boards don't always take into account the health of the company as a whole when making decisions.
- post-it 5y agoMicrosoft is spending $70 billion all-cash on this, an extra quarter billion isn't much. I don't expect they'll cut him loose until after all the ink is dry.
- throwawaysea 5y agoAren’t those types of severance packages typically invalid if you’re fired for good cause (like sexual harassment)?
- robertlagrant 5y agoLooks like he'd be terminating "with good reason" himself after a change of control and getting $292m?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- overcast 5y agoBobby "Culture" Kotick
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]