Bobby Kotick takes pay cut as company woes continue
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is simultaneously an incredibly lucky and unlucky man, as he’s making tons of money while also being in the middle of an incredibly messy, lawsuit-filled controversy. Not without reason though, as various developments have made the company out to look so much worse than initially thought. Aside from a generally distasteful work environment, Activision Blizzard’s toxicity has even led to the tragic suicide of one female employee while she was on a business trip with a male supervisor. It was really difficult to see the dirty details of the issues at the company but it’s been equally gratifying to see various consequences rear their heads.
The various lawsuits and investigations into the company have only intensified public scrutiny against the company and have only gotten even worse as changes to various IPs ring hollow for many players. Goodwill is the one thing that the company desperately needs right now, as its public image is little more than a pile of ash these days.
READ MORE: Activision Blizzard sued over toxic work culture
Less money, more problems still
In a press release given on October 28th, Bobby Kotick gave some updates on what’s going on with the lawsuits at Activision while also announcing a pay cut for him going forward:
I want to ensure that every available resource is being used in the service of becoming the industry leader in workplace excellence…I have asked our Board of Directors to reduce my total compensation until the Board has determined that we have achieved the transformational gender-related goals and other commitments described above. Specifically, I have asked the Board to reduce my pay to the lowest amount California law will allow for people earning a salary, which this year is $62,500.Â
Bobby Kotick
Other changes were detailed, such as implementing a zero-tolerance policy where harassers are severely punished for their actions and any kind of retaliation they take against people who file complaints against them. Termination will be served out against anyone found of the aforementioned offenses; in addition to terminating abusers right after an investigation is followed, there will be an effort to ensure that the person who received the complaint took the appropriate steps. A greater emphasis on diversity is also promised alongside this change to their sexual harassment policy, as Activision Blizzard hopes to increase the amount of female and non-binary employees in the company going forward.
There are other changes detailed in the letter and they all sound good on paper, but we’ll have to wait and see how well these will be implemented once the dust settles on this debacle. Bobby Kotick taking a decent pay cut was a bit of a surprise, but he’ll probably bounce back sooner than you think. Only time will tell if Bobby Kotick putting his money where his mouth is will be genuine or simple theatre that is meant to quell the masses while things are sorted out on the legal front.
