Activision CEO Bobby Kotick still gets paid way too much, investment group says

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

In June 2020, CtW Investment Group, which "works with union-sponsored pension funds to enhance long-term stockholder value," called on Activision shareholders to vote against a proposed compensation package for CEO Bobby Kotick. Kotick had received nearly $100 million in combined stock and options rewards alone, executive director Dieter Waizenegger said at the time, an amount that has "consistently been larger than the total pay (the sum of base salary, annual bonus, and equity pay) of CEO peers at similar companies."

(Not that CtW was especially enamored with Activision's competitors: It made a similar complaint about Electronic Arts a month later. The Activision bid failed, but shareholders actually rejected the proposed pay packages for EA executives.)

In April of this year, Kotick signed a new employment extension agreement with Activision in which he agreed to cut his base salary and bonuses in half, a move the company said "reflects shareholder feedback, incorporates market best practices, and continues to directly connect pay to performance." Not that he'll suffer too greatly as a result: His base salary was still $875,000 after the cut, and bonuses could net him another $1.75 million on top. He's probably got a little bit saved up from previous bonus payouts, too.

Still, it's a deep cut, but it doesn't go far enough for CtW Group. In a statement, it said that the two-year term of his employment extension "is too short to significantly impact his total pay for an extended time." As a result, it is again calling on shareholders to vote against the "Say On Pay" proposal, and the re-election of Activision's Compensation Committee chair.

"The Compensation Committee did not address longstanding shareholder concerns about executive pay practices at Activision by extending CEO Kotick’s contract by less than two years. Given the repeated opposition to CEO Kotick’s pay over the years, shareholders should expect to see a long-term reform of his compensation over a greater period than merely one year," the statement says. "The CEO’s 2021 equity award will accelerate at maximum payout level leaving most of the compensation reductions to apply to only one full year, 2022, and as such may only cover the equity award for next year."

The duration of Kotick's employment extension means that his pay could be renegotiated again—and presumably up—as soon as April 2023, less than two years from now. Furthermore, the period overlaps with Activision's "Shareholder Value Creation" incentive programs, the terms of which have already been met for the maximum possible payout. That means "the only full year for which Mr. Kotick will see a meaningful equity pay reduction is 2022," CtW Investment Group said. "In other words, the extension is not long enough to represent an earnest effort by the Compensation Committee to reduce the CEO's outsized equity pay over a sustained period."

I would never argue that Kotick's pay is even remotely close to justified, but even so I wouldn't bet too heavily on the likelihood of shareholders pushing back against it. Activision's share price has been moving in the right direction for the past several years, and the company's recent quarterly results were "well ahead of expectations," which is all that really matters.

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Read more
Bobby Kotick in 2008, after the Vivendi merger that made Activision into Activision Blizzard.
Bobby Kotick says he'd never have raised World of Warcraft's subscription by even a dollar because 'it's a prickly audience, you don't wanna do too much to agitate them'
CEO of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, speaks onstage during "Managing Excellence: Getting Consistently Great Results" at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 19, 2016 in San Francisco, California.
Bobby Kotick reckons the Warcraft film was 'a terrible idea' for Blizzard, and in the end 'was one of the worst movies I've ever seen'
UKRAINE - 2022/02/02: In this photo illustration, a Bungie Inc. logo of a video game developer is seen on a smartphone screen and PlayStation (PS) logo in the background. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Sony shares examples of 'sexually charged' texts from former Destiny 2 director who claims Bungie fired him unfairly to avoid paying millions
sniper elite 5 cover
Sniper Elite CEO reckons Swen Vincke is right to snarl at short-sighted publishers: 'You could argue that their business at senior level isn't making games… their business is managing their shareholders' perceptions'
Space Marine 2 CEO puts the boot into the Saints Row team's twitching corpse from his private jet: 'Who's going to fund them for the next game after that disaster?'
Characters with guns next to a train
Call of Duty's development budget ballooned by $250 million between 2015 and 2020 to an eye-watering $700 million
Latest in Gaming Industry
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
A still from a video announcement of Game Informer's return, featuring the magazine's Halo 2 issue.
Game Informer is back from the dead: 'The whole team has returned'
Typing on internet search toolbar: What am I doing?
How a Microsoft exec managed to pitch Microsoft Word through the genius tactic of being able to actually use it in a 'type-off' demanded by clients: 'I was the only one who'd actually been a secretary'
Half-Life wallpaper - Gordon Freeman
Former Valve exec says the company struggled to sell Half-Life until coming up with the ultimate 'one simple trick' of marketing manoeuvres: slapping a 'Game of the Year' sticker on the box
Gabe Newell looks into the camera, behind him is a prop of a turret from Team Fortress 2.
Gabe Newell's cult of personality is intense, but a Valve exec who worked with him says his superpower is how he 'delighted in people on the team just being really good at what they did'
The Spy from Team Fortress 2 holds up a folder with an accusatory expression.
One of Valve's original executives shares a very simple secret to its success: 'You can't use up your credibility' by trying to make bad games work
Latest in News
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Otter AI Meeting Agent
As if your work meetings weren't already fun enough, now Otter has a new all-hearing AI agent that remembers everything anyone has said and can join in the discussion