Following various criticisms from company shareholders, Activision Blizzard head honcho Bobby Kotick has agreed to cut his salary by 50% in a new employment agreement that’ll see him stick around until March 31, 2023, at the least.
That comes from a recent extension agreement (thanks, Wowhead) that further notes that the CEO voluntarily took the pay reduction to align his salary with company targets. The reduction equates to an $875,000 decrease, to put a number on it. Kotick has also agreed to reduce his target annual bonus by the same percentage, which could see a pay reduction of $1,750,000 for each fiscal year 2021 and 2022. It’s not all bad news for Kotick, though, as he could still earn an annual bonus to the tune of 200% of his reduced base salary in 2021 and 2022. The filing claims that the new deal better “reflects shareholder feedback, incorporates market best practices, and continues to directly connect pay to performance”.
Last month, an investment group representing some of Activision Blizzard’s shareholders criticised a pay package that would’ve seen Kotick snag $200 million in bonuses. Just a year prior, the same group argued in a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission that the company “finds multiple ways to unnecessarily enrich its CEO”. The filing was spurred on by the belief that Kotick’s proposed compensation at the time wasn’t inline with the company’s goals and results.
CtW Investment Group executive director Dieter Waizenegger further raised concerns over how much Kotick was making as 800 employees were laid off in 2019, with some of them reportedly earning “less than 1/3 of 1% of the CEO’s earnings” at that point in time.
Activision Blizzard is currently set to deliver its first-quarter results conference on May 4.
Image credit: Photo via Jordan Matter (CC BY SA 2.0)