SUMMARY
- Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision has stepped down and left the company on December 29, 2023.
- Kotick was a termed a controversial CEO due to Activision going through the worst of its times under him with Kotick himself being reportedly the cause of a lot of negativity.
After Microsoft acquired Activision in October this year, the two companies have been going through several structural changes, Activision Blizzard in particular. The biggest change came with the Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick stepping down from the position.
December 29, 2023, marked the last day of Bobby at the company. After his exit, a lot of ex-employees have opened sharing their bad experiences with their controversial ex-boss. Meanwhile, the industry now wonders who will potentially replace the 60-year-old CEO.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick steps down
It was initially reported close to two years ago that Activision Blizzard CEO and founder Bobby Kotick would be leaving the company following Microsoft’saquisition of the company. Microsoft closed the acquisition deal in October this year after lots of legal battles and positions.
When the deal was closed, it was reported that Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer requested Kotick to stay on for the time being, after which he decided to stay back for two more months. As a result, Bobby officially spent his last day in his venture which he had been a part of for 32 years on December 29, 2023.
He sent out a memo to the staff announcing his exit saying, “Phil shares our values and recognizes our talents. He is passionate about our games and the people who make them.” Bobby added that Phil has bold ambitions.
Reports suggest that Bobby is leaving Activision Blizzard with a gigantic pay package of $400 million. The 60-year-old who boasts a net worth of about $600 million was expected to receive over $375 million as compensation for Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Who will replace Activision CEO Bobby Kotick?
Although the new owner of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, has not yet appointed a direct replacement for the CEO, they have rolled out the suite of Activision Blizzard executives. They have made several changes in the leadership as well as reporting of the employees.
Microsoft Gaming CEO, Phil, reportedly issued an internal memo to the employees intimating them about the new changes. The memo read, “With Bobby’s impending departure, we are taking the next step in aligning Activision Blizzard with Microsoft Gaming.”
He then listed down the changes in reporting as follows:
- Thomas Tippl (Vice Chairman, Activision Blizzard), Rob Kostich (President, Activision Publishing), Mike Ybarra (President, Blizzard Entertainment), and Tjodolf Sommestad (President, King) will report to Matt Booty (President, Game Content and Studios).
- Brian Bulatao (Chief Administrative Officer) will report to Dave McCarthy (Chief Operations Officer, of Microsoft Gaming).
- Julie Hodges (Chief People Officer) will report to Cynthia Per-Lee (Corporate Vice President, Gaming Human Resources).
- Grant Dixton (Chief Legal Officer) will report to Linda Norman (Corporate Vice President, of Gaming CELA).
- Armin Zerza (Chief Financial Officer) will continue to report to Tim Stuart (Corporate Vice President, Finance), as we previously announced to the Finance team in October.
- Thomas, Brian, Julie, Grant, and Armin will continue to help with the transition until March 2024.
The memo further stated that Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Communications Officer, Lulu Meservey, will be leaving the company at the end of January 2024. Meanwhile, Lulu has agreed to support Kari Perez (General Manager, Communications) on a leadership transition plan for the ABK Communications team.
In addition to Lulu, Humam Sakhnini (Vice Chairman, Blizzard and King) will also exit the company at the end of December 2023. He also stated that the “leadership teams for Activision Publishing, Blizzard, and King will remain in place, with no changes to the structure of how the studios and business units are run.” He ended the note thanking Humam and Lulu for their leadership.