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Robert A. Kotick (born 1963) is an American businessman who served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Activision Blizzard and previously Activision from 1991 to 2023. He became the CEO of Activision after purchasing a company stake the previous year. Kotick engineered a merger between Activision and Vivendi Games during the late 2000s, which led to the creation of Activision Blizzard in 2008 and him being named the company's inaugural CEO. He has also served on several boards, including The Coca-Cola Company from 2012 to 2022, and Yahoo! from 2003 to 2008.[1][2] Following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, Kotick retired from the company on December 29, 2023.
Bobby Kotick | |
|---|---|
 Kotick in 2012 | |
| Born | Robert A. Kotick 1963 (age 60–61) United States |
| Education | University of Michigan |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Title | Former CEO of Activision Blizzard |
| Term | 1991-2023 |
| Children | 3 |
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Robert A. Kotick was born in 1963 in the United States, and grew up in New York.[3][4] His interest in business began at an early age. In junior high school, Kotick had his own business cards, and in high school, he ran a business renting out Manhattan clubs on off nights.[4] He studied art history at the University of Michigan in the early 1980s.[5]
Early career
While Kotick was still a student in 1983 at the University of Michigan, he started a software company called Arktronics with friend Howard Marks in their dorm room.[6] He and his roommate developed a software called Jane for the Apple II.[5] During his second year, Kotick convinced Steve Wynn to invest $300,000 in his startup.[7] Steve Jobs met with Kotick and convinced him to drop out of college. Kotick took the advice and left the University of Michigan to focus on building his company.[8]
In 1987, Kotick tried to acquire Commodore International. He planned to remove the keyboard and disk drive from the Amiga 500 and turn it into a video game system. He was unsuccessful in persuading Commodore's then-Chairman Irving Gould to sell control of the company.[6]
In June 1990, Kotick became CEO of Leisure Concepts, Nintendo's third-party licensing agent. In December 1990, Kotick sold his stake in Leisure Concepts and purchased a 25% stake in the almost-bankrupt Activision, then known as Mediagenic, with business partner Brian Kelly. In 1991, Kotick changed the name back to Activision, performed a full restructuring of the company, and refocused the company on making and marketing video games.[6][9][5] Kotick became CEO of Activision in February 1991.[10][11] From 1997 to 2003, Activision acquired nine development studios and released its first hit game in 1995.[5]
At Activision, Kotick set out to build "an institutional quality, well-managed company with a focus on the independent developer."[6] In a June 14, 2010, interview with gaming blog Kotaku, Kotick stated, "…[P]art of the whole philosophy of Activision was whether you're owned outright or not, if you're a studio you have control of your destiny, you could make decisions about who to hire, flexibility on what products to make, how to make them, schedules appropriate to make them, budgets."[12]
Kotick founded International Consumer Technologies. In 1995, International Consumer Technologies became a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision.[13]
Activision Blizzard
In November 2006, Kotick entered into discussion with French media conglomerate Vivendi. Through its Vivendi Games subsidiary, it owned Blizzard Entertainment and Sierra Entertainment.[4] Kotick engineered the merger, which created a new company, Activision Blizzard.[14] Shareholders of Activision Blizzard approved Kotick as CEO of the combined company in 2008.[15] Kotick said he aimed to build on Blizzard's successes, including expanding into Asia.[14]
Kotick has used Activision Blizzard's industry position to push partners for changes that he maintains would benefit the gaming community. In July 2009, Kotick threatened to stop making games for the PlayStation 3 platform if Sony did not cut the price of the console.[16] Kotick also urged the British government to reward Activision for continuing to invest in the country's pool of game developers by providing Activision with the same kinds of tax incentives provided by Canada, Singapore, and eastern bloc countries.[17]
Kotick expanded Activision Blizzard’s mobile presence in 2016 when it acquired King, the creator of Candy Crush.[18] He also acquired the professional esports organization Major League Gaming.[18] Also in 2016, Kotick announced the creation of Activision Blizzard’s professional Overwatch League.[19] In June 2017, Fortune reported that Kotick had become "the longest-serving head of any publicly traded tech company." Under Kotick’s leadership, Activision Blizzard was named one of Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work from 2015 to 2018."[20][21][22] In November 2022, under Kotick's leadership, the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II broke record sales for the franchise after crossing the $1 billion mark in ten days.[23]
Litigation
In 2007, a flight attendant filed a lawsuit against Kotick, Andrew Gordon, and Cove Management, a company the two created to manage their privately owned Gulfstream III jet. She claimed that a pilot hired by Cove had sexually harassed her, and that she had been wrongfully terminated after she had reported the incidents to Gordon.[24] Cove denied the allegations and eventually settled the litigation with the flight attendant. Kotick then became involved in litigation with the law firm selected to defend him, Gordon, and Cove Management, in a dispute over legal fees. The court ruled in the firm's favor and awarded it damages.[25][24]
In July 2021, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) announced it had filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard due to allegations of workplace misconduct and discrimination by several employees. Kotick was not named in the suit.[26] In October 2021, Kotick asked the Activision Blizzard board to cut his salary to the lowest amount allowed by California law, and to not to receive any bonuses or be granted any equity amid lawsuits against the company.[27] In November 2021, an article from The Wall Street Journal asserted that Kotick had been aware of the past allegations, and had protected an employee who sexually harassed from being fired. The article also asserted that Kotick had threatened to kill an assistant on their voice mail. Kotick apologized, and the dispute was settled out of court.[28]
In response to the allegations, Activision's Board itself examined the claims made and retained an outside law firm and other advisors, including Gilbert F. Casellas, the former head of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to conduct independent reviews. In June 2022, the Board filed its findings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and a summary of the independent review's findings in an 8-K filing. The Board's statement expressed confidence that Kotick "appropriately addressed workplace issues brought to his attention" and supported his efforts to lead the company,[29][30] while others urged Kotick to resign or to be replaced in light of these allegations.[31][32][33][34]
The California lawsuit was eventually settled in December 2023. The settlement agreement stated that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the company's board, its executives, or Kotick. As part of that settlement, Activision Blizzard agreed to pay $54 million including set-asides to deal with pay and promotion inequality.[35]
Media corrections and redactions
Following the settlement, numerous publications posted corrections and redactions regarding conduct by Activision, its board, and executives.[36][37][38][39] A correction by news site Engadget stated, “While the CRD lawsuit initially included allegations that Activision fostered sexual harassment, the CRD in January filed an amendment withdrawing these claims."[40]
Microsoft acquisition and retirement
In January 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, making it the largest video game company acquisition. The acquisition was completed in 2023.[41][42][43][44] Following the completion of the acquisition, Kotick remained with Activision Blizzard to assist with the transition until he retired from the company on December 29, 2023.[45]
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Kotick is a non-executive director for The Coca-Cola Company and a board member at the Center for Early Education and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He previously served as a Yahoo! board member from March 2003 to August 2008.[10][46][47][3]
In 2019, Kotick's total compensation at Activision Blizzard fell to $30.1 million,[48] down from his 2018 package of $31 million in salary, bonus, perks, stock and options. 85% of his 2018 compensation came from stock and options. He was the 21st most highly compensated CEO in the United States that year. He also earned 319 times more than the average Activision Blizzard employee's salary of $97,000 in that year, putting him in 75th place among U.S. CEOs.[49] He was working under a deal signed in November 2016 with Activision Blizzard under which he earned bonuses if Activision Blizzard meets certain financial targets related to mergers and acquisitions.[50] The contract locked him in until 2021.[51]
In February 2019, the non-profit organization As You Sow ranked Kotick 45th in a list of the 100 most over-paid chief executive officers of the United States.[52] A 180% increase in Activision Blizzard's share price since March 2016 triggered an incentive bonus in Kotick's 2016 contract. Kotick was expected to receive a bonus of $200 million, which was reduced to a bonus package of $155 million following criticism.[53][54]
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Some statements Kotick has made about his business strategy have garnered negative media attention.[12] He has focused on developing intellectual property which can be, in his words, "exploited" over a long period, to the exclusion of new titles which cannot guarantee sequels.[55][56]
During the 2009 Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference, Kotick stated that "The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games."[57][58][59][60] Following the backlash on this comment, Kotick clarified that his remarks were intended for investors and had been taken out of context.[61]
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- Ranked 50th in Vanity Fair's 2016 "New Establishment List"[62]
- Ranked 75th on Harvard Business Review's 2016 "Best Performing CEOs in the World"[63][64]
- Ranked 24th in 2016 and 27th in 2015 on the Adweek list of "Top 100 Leaders in Media"[65][66]
A native of Long Island, New York, Kotick resides in California with his family.[67] Bobby married Nina Kotick and they have three daughters: Grace, Emily and Audrey.[68] He and his wife divorced in late 2012.[5] Kotick dated Sheryl Sandberg from 2016 to 2019.[69] His home in Beverly Hills is filled with Abstract Expressionist art.[5] Kotick has donated to University of Michigan sports.[70]
Kotick identifies as a libertarian and donated to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2007 and 2008.[5] He endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.[71]
In 2011, Kotick had a cameo appearance in the film Moneyball as Oakland Athletics co-owner Stephen Schott.[72]
In 2009, Kotick co-founded the Call of Duty Endowment (CODE), a non-profit benefit corporation.[73] The endowment helps soldiers transition to civilian careers after their military service by funding nonprofit organizations.[74] As of 2022, Kotick retains his position on CODE's board.[75] During the COVID-19 crisis, CODE has advocated for employing veteran medics and hospital corpsman as emergency medical technicians and paramedics.[76]
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