Huge CEO Bonus Follows Activision Blizzard Layoffs

On Tuesday, Activision Blizzard announced it will lay off between 50 and 190 employees as part of a restructuring process caused by the pandemic. 

However, the company is still prepared to award its CEO Bobby Kotick with nearly $200 million in bonuses, per CtW Investment Group. 

Activision said there was no correlation, but the contrasting events still inflamed outsiders in the wake of the company’s recent success. 

“Give one year of Bobby Kotick’s salary to marginalized and underrepresented developers, and the games industry will see an era of growth and innovation unlike anything seen in this medium before,” Dutch video game developer Rami Ismail said in a tweet.

Over the past two years, Activision has laid off more than 800 employees despite financial gains.

• In 2020, Activision saw revenue of $8.09 billion compared to $6.49 billion in 2019. 
• The record year was due in part to the “Call of Duty” franchise, as full-year unit sales grew over 40% year-over-year, per an earnings release.

Kotick is set to receive the bonuses due to a “shareholder value creation incentive” clause in his contract that was activated due to Activision’s strong stock performance.

In March 2016, Activision’s stock price hovered around $32. Shares sat at $89.58 at market close on Thursday, and reached a high of $104 last month.