Activision Blizzard continued issues

E

eastmen

Legend
Supporter
Activision / Blizard is facing new issues with CEO Bobby Kotick alleged to have known and covered up the sexual harassment claims.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/activi...ick-sexual-misconduct-allegations-11637075680

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick knew of sexual harassment claims, including allegations of rape, and worked to keep the situations quiet, the Wall Street Journalreports. According to the report, Kotick did not inform the Activision Blizzard board of directors of multiple instances where employees accused workplae superiors of sexual harassment. One of the accused is Dan Bunting, co-studio head of Treyarch, who Wall Street Journal reports has now left the company.
Click to expand...

Apparently they are staging a walk out today.
 
just want to add on here , activision has shed almost half of its value in stock. 52 week high was 104.03 and its now down to 64.55 a share. They are a 52B company. If any company like trecent , sony , ms , amazon and apple want to make a big purchase this could be the time for them to do it. The news only just broke and I can see it dipping even more. It would be a huge purchase for any company but even with the tarnished reputation you still get world of warcarft , diablo , warcraft , star craft and whatever else they have. Could be a decent purchase for someone
 
eastmen said:
This could collapse the stock even more. If it goes down enough someone can swoop in and say hey we are going to clean out all that toxic culture and instill an inclusive one.
Click to expand...
I can't see it massively hitting stock because big investors don't give a f*** about conduct or ethics, only money.

But if it results in Kotick being ejected, that's good.
 
Malo said:
Apart from the hundreds of millions they'd likely have to pay him on exit.
Click to expand...
I can't see him getting anything if he is fired for gross misconduct, which is what this looks like. If his actions cost the company and shareholders money, there is no way he'll get a golden parachute.
 
Malo said:
Apart from the hundreds of millions they'd likely have to pay him on exit.
Click to expand...

I'm sure his contract doesn't say he still gets the money if he's fired for cause.

Edit: what Dsoup said.
 
DSoup said:
I can't see him getting anything if he is fired for gross misconduct, which is what this looks like. If his actions cost the company and shareholders money, there is no way he'll get a golden parachute.
Click to expand...
The board of directors have already publicly announced their support for him, which in court would likely amount to acceptance of his conduct regarding these issues. If he's fired due to these large companies like Xbox, Sony etc possibly dropping some public support for Activision Blizzard (face it, he won't get fired for anything else), he's going to make out very well IMO.
 
Yeah, the company needed to take action at the time of all the complaints but instead they covered them up. So while he's likely to get the money, it sure doesn't feel like the right thing. But that's how business goes, not being based on right or wrong.
 
BRiT said:
Yeah, the company needed to take action at the time of all the complaints but instead they covered them up. So while he's likely to get the money, it sure doesn't feel like the right thing. But that's how business goes, not being based on right or wrong.
Click to expand...

A lot of times in companies there are people that act as a firewall. They will be told the information and pretend not to tell the higher ups to protect them. That way the higher ups can deny knowing. Oh well no HR report made it to me so how would I know ? We will certainly get HR training on how to proceed in the future and the parties responsible will be fired.
 
Kotick and his buddy Brian Kelly owns ~25 % of Activision-Blizzard. It would be pretty difficult for the other owners to kick him out, especially since he's been CEO since 1990.
 
Malo said:
The board of directors have already publicly announced their support for him, which in court would likely amount to acceptance of his conduct regarding these issues. If he's fired due to these large companies like Xbox, Sony etc possibly dropping some public support for Activision Blizzard (face it, he won't get fired for anything else), he's going to make out very well IMO.
Click to expand...

Which puts the current board in the firing line too. The shareholders may decide a clean sweep of the whole board and the CEO is the cheapest option. Goodbye everybody at the top, no money spent. The only guaranteed payout upon loss of employment is mandated by statutory legislation. I don't know much about American law but I would be very surprised if the US has legislation than requires shareholders paid out a CEO being fired for gross misconduct, A Board would be dismissed, that typically is not a paid position and therefore not employment.

Pressure may come from Microsoft and Sony but the shareholders would never acknowledge that. Much better to simply act on "new information", that they claim they were not previously aware.

tuna said:
Kotick and his buddy Brian Kelly owns ~25 % of Activision-Blizzard. It would be pretty difficult for the other owners to kick him out, especially since he's been CEO since 1990.
Click to expand...

Minority share. If the rest of the Board or the Shareholders want them gone, they are. They may still own shares in the company but that doesn't mean Kotick gets to keep his paid position as CEO.
 
DSoup said:
Minority share. If the rest of the Board or the Shareholders want them gone, they are. They may still own shares in the company but that doesn't mean Kotick gets to keep his paid position as CEO.
Click to expand...

The rest of the owners are probably funds and similar entities that does not really want to take any responsibility of actually running the company. They are usually not very good at coordinating between themselves either.
 
Johnny Awesome said:
It matters. Some damage is done by the accusations, but more is done if they are credible.
Click to expand...

It's going on long enough now that the damage is already done. Also even with some type of proof there will be a large segment of the press that wont believe it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BRiT
Activision closes some Blizzard offices [2020-10-08]
Replies
2
Views
1K
Pressure
P
Back
Top