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Investor Group Pissed Activision Blizzard CEO Is Getting A $200 Million Payout

cmdrshepard

cmdrshepard

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
1,557
No one person, no matter how well they performed in a year, in no matter what job they do should be rewarded with anything close to $200 million. This is simply pure greed from Kotick and taking everything that he can get while he can get it. Activision had a great year financially - off the backs of the thousands of people that were employed to do the work - not just this one man.
 
Lord Azrael

Lord Azrael

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,976
I meant they're right and all... but these are investors, the motivation behind this callout is far from altruistic lol
 
Host Samurai

Host Samurai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,273
In a pandemic too. This company is disgusting. Glad I don't purchase anything from them and don't plan on it.
 
Phellps

Phellps

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,933
Tax the fucking rich, man. Can't feel too sorry for those investors because they're just mad those 200 million aren't going into their pockets. They couldn't give two fucks about their employees either.
 
Shatty McKracken

Shatty McKracken

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,966
Socivol said:
Looks like people in the other topic saying pricing going up to pay CEOs were right. This is why I personally can't justify it. These companies are making windfall profits already, still firing people, and paying their C level execs millions.
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yep.

Everyone that argued in favor of an increase in game prices should be ashamed of themselves.

staff cuts will continue at these big AAA game making factories, working conditions will likely change very little, and the executives that run these companies will continue to get pay increases.
 

JPLMD

Member
Dec 25, 2017
90
Please please just tax the rich more. It's absurd and the wealth disparity in this country is appalling. I make good money and I'm more than happy to pay my fair share of taxes. I don't know or fathom why anyone ever needs that amount of money.
 
FF Seraphim

FF Seraphim

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,910
Tokyo
Holy fucking shit, they are firing more people and giving this guy 200 million dollars?!?!? They could make a whole new game with that much fucking money!
 

Youta Mottenai

Member
Oct 26, 2017
516
You were so eloquent that I'll just quote:
Mazzle said:
Wages haven't risen in years, some workers can't even afford the food in the cafeteria, QA testers get laid off constanly to not pay them health insurace, every god damn year people get fired and this greedy asshole, this leech, this fucking cunt grants himself more and more money, he won't ever be able to spend.
Fuck you Bobby Kotick, you fucking asshole, you would sell the ash of your own family for a dollar if you could, you're such a walking trashbag of human scum, that I wouldn't even piss on you, if you would burst in flames. Go to hell
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Spine Crawler

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,228
Many people hate Kotick and probably justifiably so but he sure has succeeded in making activision a premier publisher. They are so ruthless when they hit a streak and when the streak ends. They really got rejuvenated when Tony Hawk was a major success and they hit it up with a decade of quality titles annually. They then had Guitar Hero which was probably not as long a streak but certainly quite profitable due to the guitars. Then they had CoD going on building slowly and finally becomming a mega franchise with 4 and that one never really stopped.
 

i like big butts

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,970
Niosai said:
If you're still defending $70 games, you're intentionally sticking your head in the sand at this point.
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$70 is irrelevant to why Bobby is getting paid so much or even relevant to video game price hikes being valid or not.

The reason why Bobby gets paid so much is because he's ruthless about cost cutting. The $10 price hike is like minimal compared to the number of people Activision has recently laid off in this financial year, the stagnation in wages and almost slavery wages in some positions.

Activision is egregiously bad about executive position pay because about the whole dynamic of Bobby saving Activision. He is especially unique even amongst executives.

 
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Niosai

Niosai

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,955
i like big butts said:
$70 is irrelevant to why Bobby is getting paid so much or even relevant to video game price hikes being valid or not.

The reason why Bobby gets paid so much is because he's ruthless about cost cutting. The $10 price hike is like minimal compared to the number of people Activision has recently laid off in this financial year, the stagnation in wages and almost slavery wages in some positions.

Activision is egregiously bad about executive position pay because about the whole dynamic of Bobby saving Activision.
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I'm not saying they're correlated, but I am saying that they clearly don't need to increase the price. It's just more greed.
 
Aztechnology

Aztechnology

Community Resettler
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
14,207
Consolidation of wealth is bad for the economy. The actions of companies like Activision to constantly improve their bottom line through ruthless cost cutting and "efficiency" actions is a slippery slope we're already barreling down. Socio Economic issues IMO are more important than any race, creed or religion. It's the single biggest issue of our lifetimes.

I know I'm waxing poetic about a macro issue, but this kind of thing while many of their staff can barely afford to live, is emblematic of the times.
 

i like big butts

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,970
Niosai said:
I'm not saying they're correlated, but I am saying that they clearly don't need to increase the price. It's just more greed.
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If, say, Nintendo increased prices but also increased wages for all of their employees and added benefits would it still be greed?

Look, I agree that the price hike is most likely just going to pad the bottom line for most companies but I find it odd that it's the first thing that gamers mention when Bobby gets a huge paycheque.

Not that Bobby is basically the Ghosn of the video game world. Bobby's pay situation is unique even amongst CEOs and has been for an extremely long time. I don't think Sony, for example, is using $70 games to make sure Yosp gets an extra $100 million pay rise or something.
 
Garrison

Garrison

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,953
At this point in time the only thing you can do is go back in a time machine to try to stop this madness just like in Endgame. And try to snap back the employees that are got fired.
 
Metalmucil

Metalmucil

Member
Aug 17, 2019
1,389
Next headline tomorrow
"Investors oust Kotick, Split 200m among themselves, people stay fired, nothing really changes'
 
Niosai

Niosai

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,955
i like big butts said:
If, say, Nintendo increased prices but also increased wages for all of their employees and added benefits would it still be greed?

Look, I agree that the price hike is most likely just going to pad the bottom line for most companies but I find it odd that it's the first thing that gamers mention when Bobby gets a huge paycheque.

Not that Bobby is basically the Ghosn of the video game world. Bobby's pay situation is unique even amongst CEOs and has been for an extremely long time. I don't think Sony, for example, is using $70 games to make sure Yosp gets an extra $100 million pay rise or something.
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Gamers are the consumer of his company's products. When the company increases the price of a product without any real valid justification and the CEO gets an insane, fantasy-world amount of money, the consumers are going to be up in arms about it.
 
PS9

PS9

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
5,066
I'll tell you what, make me CEO of Activision and you only got to pay me a single milli
 
PHOENIXZERO

PHOENIXZERO

Member
Oct 29, 2017
12,253
VAD said:
How long until Bobby is ousted by shareholders?
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He's got far too much clout for anything to happen to him and shareholders aside from this one probably don't care as long as the company is making them a lot of money. AB would either have to start crashing and burning or he'd have to be caught doing something horrific for that given how firmly entrenched he is there since he's been the CEO for 30 years and along with his partner the reason Activision exists. Not to mention the power he gained from the Vivendi split, he's also by far the largest single shareholder.
 
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i like big butts

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,970
Niosai said:
Gamers are the consumer of his company's products. When the company increases the price of a product without any real valid justification and the CEO gets an insane, fantasy-world amount of money, the consumers are going to be up in arms about it.
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Bobby's history with Activision has seen him get paid an exorbitantly high amount compared to his competitors.

To single in on $70 games automatically being invalid because he is doing what he has been doing since Activision became one of the largest publishers in the world is just gamers being dumb as hell sorry.

If Bobby didn't raise video game prices on Call of Duty, laid off a few extra people and still paid himself $200 million, does this mean consumers should be OK with this? Because the vast majority of comments are fixated with the $70 and not Activision's yearly method of increasing profit margins through "streamlining" and paying executives extra huge bonuses in the process. Bonuses that just do not exist basically for any executive working in the video game industry.

I can be fairly certain that Sony's blockbuster 1st party price rises aren't going to result in Yosp and Ryan getting $200 million in bonuses. The fixation on $70 games in response to this news show the selfishness of gamers in general.

He is basically the Ghosn of the video games industry only that cost cutting in the video games industry doesn't always result in a sub-par product and damaged reputations.
 
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Boogolo

Member
Nov 1, 2020
492
This is a fairly insane sum for a CEO who is basically benefiting from people gaming more due to being stuck at home. This though is on the board and shareholders, the vast majority of those shareholders are institutional investors who should know better
 
Zephy

Zephy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,213
PS9 said:
I'll tell you what, make me CEO of Activision and you only got to pay me a single milli
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And that's why you can't be a big CEO. They *want* the kind of greedy guy that gives himself 200M$ every year, because it's the same kind of guy that will be ruthless in cutting costs, firing employees, raising prices and inventing new ways to drain customer money, in order to make the company, and therefore investors, richer.
 
Mr.Deadshot

Mr.Deadshot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,285
These bonuses make no sense and should be illegal. And that's not some poor joke at Game Pass. They just shouldn't exist. It makes no sense that one person gets that amount of money on top of his monstrous salary while others in the same country live in poverty.
 
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