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Bobby Kotick is one of the highest-paid CEOs in the U.S.
Activision Blizzard head honcho Bobby Kotick was one of the highest-paid CEOs in America last year, Bloomberg reports. Earning $64.9 million -- $55.9 million in of it in stock which he'll vest over the next 5 years, so he isn't just pocketing all of it in cash -- puts Kotick behind Oracle's Larry Ellison, America's top-paid CEO, who earned $96.2 million in 2012. Looking to other game industry execs, Kotick's nearest comparison would be EA's former CEO John Riccitiello, who resigned in March, but made $9.5 million in 2012. So why the pay raise, an eight-fold increase over Kotick's $8.33 million salary in 2011? It's part of Kotick's new employment contract, which included big bonuses tied to corporate performance. If Activision Blizzard continues to do well, Kotick will keep earning big dollars -- if he hits the highest performance targets, he could be making even more this year. [Update: Clarified Kotick's stock vesting]
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick's full DICE speech, Jack Thompson says 'Gotcha!'
[Elisabeth Caren] Activision CEO Bobby Kotick's speech at DICE was certainly a highlight of this year's convention. The polarizing figure took the stage and spoke his mind -- whether it was for better or worse was a topic of debate for the rest of the show. Some saw it as humanizing the demonized executive, who makes no apologies for running an efficient and profitable company (especially in this economy), while others couldn't believe that PR ever let him take the stage with what seemed like a fairly off-the-cuff speech. Disbarred attorney Jack Thompson took the opportunity to send California State Senator Leland Yee (and the entire press) a letter declaring "Gotcha!" to a section of Kotick's speech. Using a piece he read on GamePolitics as a springboard, Thompson writes that Kotick's admission that the executive would still be really into video games if it didn't run the risk of interfering with his life and running a major publisher is an "admission [that] flies in the face of video game industry spokespersons' false, sometimes perjured assertions, that video games do not affect the behavior of minors. Here is a full-grown adult (at least in chronological terms) admitting just the opposite." In context, though, Kotick's admission is more in line with many adults, who have responsibilities to balance along with enjoying video games. Kotick recognizes he has an addictive personality -- noting as much about enjoying food -- so he keeps his gaming in check. Watch the full Kotick speech, and read Jack Thompson's letter, after the break. Kotick mentioning why he doesn't play games at the level he did in his youth begins at the 11:30 mark.
Bobby Kotick didn't think Blizzard was worth $7 million in '96
Have you ever looked at something new on the auction house and thought "Who would pay a thousand gold for that," only to find that months later the item has skyrocketed in price and you missed a golden opportunity to pick it up on the cheap? Activision kingpin Bobby Kotick might make the same analogy. If he played video games, I mean. The Escapist clued us in to this little story: back in 1995, Kotick was eating lunch with some folks from Davidson & Associates, and they told him that they had just bought up-and-coming software developer Blizzard Entertainment for the tidy sum of seven million dollars -- a number that a baffled Kotick believed to be ridiculous. At the time, Blizzard's claim to fame was Warcraft: Orcs vs. Humans, and ... that's pretty much it, save for a few one-off games like Blackthorne and The Lost Vikings. Kotick called them nothing more than a "contract developer" and remarked that they weren't worth seven million bucks. Of course, later that year, Blizzard released Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, which catapulted them into gaming history forever. Thirteen years later, in 2008, Kotick (and Activision) paid seven billion dollars to acquire Blizzard. For those not into mathematics, that's one thousand times more than what Davidson & Associates paid. Well, he was right about one thing. They definitely weren't worth seven million bucks. He just didn't know how right he was at the time.
Activision missed opportunity to buy Blizzard for $7m
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick mentioned in a recent interview that he could have bought World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment back in the mid-'90s for a mere $7 million -- instead of having to do that whole $18 billion deal 12 years later. Speaking with Game Informer, the polarizing executive notes that during a dinner in 1995 he was shocked that another company bothered to buy Blizzard for $7 million. That year, Kotick says that Activision had about $60 million in revenue. The executive thought at the time that his dinner companions were "out of [their] minds." In fairness, Blizzard only really had Lost Vikings and Warcraft in those relatively early years of the developer. It's actually Blizzard founder Mike Morhaime who is probably kicking himself more (financially speaking) now, as Kotick relays that Morhaime told him recently,"Yeah, could you imagine if I had just held out for the seven billion instead of the seven million?'"
Guitar Hero, Call of Duty franchises lead Activision's 'better-than-expected' Q3 2009
Look, just feign surprise, it makes these financial posts so much more exciting: Activision today reported net revenues of $755 million (on a non-GAAP basis) in the quarter ending September 30, 2009 -- that's $55 million more than the suits hoped to stack, according to previous projections. While the blockbuster adaptation of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen might have played a part in this outpouring of our money, we're gonna go with Kotick's explanation: "Our performance was driven by positive audience response to Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero 5, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, and the Guitar Hero and Call of Duty franchises, as well as Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft." In fact, the CEO called Guitar Hero the year's "#1 best-selling third-party franchise in North America and Europe" through September, claiming that U.S. sales of music games increased 72 percent year over year in September. Last year's big-band-box edition, World Tour, and Call of Duty: World at War combined for total, world domination, becoming this year's "#1 and #2 best-selling third-party titles" in North America and Europe through September, according to Activision. Additionally, World at War DLC map pack sales continued to climb last quarter and have now surpassed 7.5 million purchases. Needless to say, the publisher is not backing off of its prior financial outlook. Activision anticipates annual net revenues of $4.5 billion (on a non-GAAP basis) at the close of the year. Did you remember to feign surprise?
Activision CEO made nearly $15 million last year
Say what you will about Activision CEO Robert Kotick -- and from what we've seen in previous posts, you will -- the guy knows how to make money. Not just for Activision as a whole (which raked in close to $1 billion in Q2 this year), but for himself as well -- according to a recent Forbes profile on the controversial CEO, Kotick made $14,950,102 in 2008.Kotick caught some flack last week for joking about wanting to increase the price of Activision's releases. Now, it seems we know why -- he's only making $15 million a year. He desperately needs that extra scratch to upgrade his Azimut 62E Luxury Yacht to an Azimut 116 Luxury Yacht. Those meanies at the Santa Monica Yachting Club just won't stop picking on his puny seafaring vessel.[Via GamesIndustry]
Activision: A Decade of Denting Wallets
Flipping through the decade-long Activision highlight reel assembled by IndustryGamers, we couldn't help but clutch our wallets a bit tighter after every page. For the past decade, we've been regularly stuffing wads of cash into the mega publisher's piggy bank, which has swelled to nearly $3 billion, according to IndustryGamers. In return, we've actually enjoyed countless hours and precious moments of quality gaming. Fair trade? While our mental image of Activision is something akin to an Akira Project–like, colossal monstrosity -- an unrestrained beast, repeatedly re-gurg-i-ta-ting its acquisitions all over us -- the company is very much in control and has secured a variety of deft business deals that continue to produce games we simply can't resist (aside from the ones we do). True, there's only so many toy instruments one can squeeze into a modest living room, but we'll make some room for a plastic turntable on the coffee table, and the Real© Call of Duty is out again this year, and ... you get it. We're already loosening our grips and opening up the wallets again.But make no mistake. We do so while gritting our teeth. What was Kotick's recent joke about hiking up the price for Modern Warfare 2 in the UK and the exorbitant costs of Activision's peripheral-packed games in all markets? Oh, that's right: "You know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further," the CEO quipped. Nobody's laughing but you, Rob.
Vivendi CEO becomes Activision Blizzard chairman
Jean-Bernard Levy, CEO of Vivendi, will add the role of Activision Blizzard chairman to his resume. Levy will pick up the duties of outgoing 67-year-old Rene Penisson. Vivendi is the majority owner in the empire known as Activision Blizzard. Blizzavision is expected to announce strong sales in the bajillions - despite the economy's influence - during its financial report this Thursday.Activision Blizzard director, president and CEO Bobby Kotick had no reaction to the news, as he is currently on a deep exploration inside the company's money bin. He'll comment after returning and depressurizing in a couple weeks.
Forbes profiles Kotick, calls Rock Band 'shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero'
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is the cover story for the latest issue of Forbes magazine, and the article's got one helluva quote -- and it's not even from the man himself. While you might balk at the businessman's lack of gaming credentials (read: he doesn't play games), this is the line, written by Forbes itself, that'll cause more than a few raised eyebrows: "EA also teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars."The decidedly negative tone without attribution is uncharacteristic for the magazine, and also feels a bit ... off? We know the Harmonix-RedOctane schism can be a bit confusing, but when the creators of the hit franchise are the ones making Rock Band -- and doing the multi-instrument thing first -- is that really the best choice of words? [Via geoffkeighley]
Activision Blizzard CEO Kotick: Vivendi franchises lacked 'potential to be exploited'
Whereas Electronic Arts has been actively pursuing a more diverse portfolio of original IPs, rival publishing powerhouse Activision Blizzard is looking to take a less risky approach of focusing on a narrow field of franchises and, in CEO Bobby Kotick's words, exploit it. Hey, it's just business.When asked about the Vivendi Games franchises that were tossed aside when Activision consumed the company (e.g. 50 Cent, Ghostbusters and Brutal Legend) during yesterday's conference call (transcript via Seeking Alpha), the Big Kahuna said, "With respect to the franchises that don't have the potential to be exploited every year across every platform with clear sequel potential that can meet our objectives of over time becoming $100 million plus franchises, that's a strategy that has worked very well for us."Kotick said that there's only been a "small single-digit number" of new, successful franchises in the last five or 10 years, and that properties they work on are those that "we know if we release today, we'll be working on 10 years from now." He cited rising development costs as a factor in this conservative business strategy. Of course, as gamers we typically don't mind sequels as long as they show noticeable improvement over their predecessors (and sometimes that's not even necessary), but come on, Bobby, we know you've given KennyL free reign. We really do appreciate it, now do us another favor and just release Brutal Legend. You can write it off as a charitable deduction, we promise!
Actilizzard CEO finds Warner Music's logic on music licensing 'one-sided'
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick finds comments made by Warner Music -- saying it should be paid more for the use of its music in games like Guitar Hero -- a little "one-sided." The Financial Times reports that the Blizzavision chief thinks comments made by Warner Music's Edgar Bronfman don't take into account the "capital and resources" required to turn the song into something "fun to play."With the music industry taking a backseat to the games industry, it's not surprising to find record execs trying to figure out a way to squeeze more money out of a billion-dollar franchise. The thing is, though, that Activision's merger with Vivendi Games, connects it to Vivendi Universal, which owns Universal Music, the "world's largest music publisher." At the end of the day, Kotick can snap his fingers and never talk to Warner Music again, all the while squeezing every last dollar out of the Guitar Hero franchise until it stops being the soup du jour.
Activision execs receive millions in bonuses
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and co-chairman Brian Kelly have each received bonuses from the company of approximately $3 million each. Michael Griffith, CEO of Activision Publishing, also received a bonus according to SEC filings, but his was only for around $1.5 million -- poor guy. The bonuses were given due to Activision's incredible success last year.With the Vivendi merger imminent, it's worth noting some analysts find Activision an excellent investment. It's not every day you can clearly point to a game publisher and see guaranteed profits in the near future.
Activision CEO sticks to console price drop message
With a gallon of milk costing less than a gallon of gas in many places, it's not surprising to hear Activision CEO Bobby Kotick keep on message about console price cuts in this economy. Speaking with the Times Online, he believes there is real demographic expansion within the industry's customer base, but feels the cost of purchasing hardware is "prohibitive."He points out that during economic slowdowns the game industry does well because people are looking for entertainment in their homes. Kotick may get his wish if the rumors of an incoming Xbox 360 price drop are true; at the same time, NPD figures show consumers warming up to the PS3's price. Meanwhile, we ponder making a car that runs on milk.[Via GameDaily]
Activision's Bobby Kotick speaks at All Things Digital
Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, took the stage at the All Things Digital conference, and spoke a little more about the Activision Blizzard deal. Kotick fesses up that a lot of the merger was about Blizzard's people. While a pessimist might read this as "we can't compete with them, so join 'em," what I see is a deep level of respect for Blizzard and its creation. Kotick said, "the merger is really our mechanism to get access to Blizzard's talent, capability and infrastructure." This isn't really a surprise, and reinforces what Kotick's had to say about being considerate of Blizzard's culture. As has been said before, Kotick doesn't seem like a bad guy. What he's doing is acknowledging the good work Blizzard's done in the past. He straight out says that, "I've never seen anything quite like World of Warcraft, not just as a gaming experience, but as a social experience, as a business." That's not the kind of sentiment issued by someone who doesn't like what they just bought (Ed: But would someone who just spent $18.8 billion on anything not like it?). While Kotick doesn't say directly much about the future of Blizzard, things are still looking good for our favorite Blue team.
Activision CEO introduces Guitar Hero World Tour
At the All Things Digital 6 conference, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick took the stage for an interview with Kara Swisher. During the session, Kotick introduced and showed off to the audience Guitar Hero World Tour. "I tried to get [Yahoo and Microsoft execs] Jerry Yang, Steve Ballmer, Sue Decker and Bill Gates to play Guitar Hero, but they weren't interested." Instead, Kotick had Paula Abdul pull four people from the audience -- one of them just happened to be legendary skateboarder (and Activision franchiser) Tony Hawk -- to play an unnamed Lenny Kravitz song (we're guessing "Are You Gonna Go My Way," since it was used in the trailer). We've embedded the video, which features some in-game footage, after the break.
EA finds comedy in Activision CEO's jab
Responding to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick's remarks that EA sucks the soul out of the studios it acquires, an EA representative counters that the company finds the comments comical. Speaking with Newsweek, EA's VP of Corporate Communications, Jeff Brown, says that employees at the company just laughed at the statement.Brown points out how radically things have changed at the publisher in recent years, which claims to have put creative control back into the hands of development teams. He says whatever perception there is about EA -- both internal and external -- needs to evolve along with the company. A recent EA employment survey shows things are changing internally, but it's probably going to take a little longer for gamers to agree, especially with fears of how the "old EA" would more-likely-than-not screw up whatever franchises it would acquire in a Take-Two takeover.[Via GameDaily]
Activision CEO says US economy could cause console price drop
Speaking to Reuters, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said the slowing US economy will pressure console makers to lower prices. He believes with the rising costs of "fuel and food and housing," it's difficult to go out and buy a $399 console. Kotick also mentioned that he's concerned about EA's hostile takeover attempts of Take-Two because it'll essentially mean one company controls the video game sports category.Considering Activision is in the software business, it isn't surprising Kotick would want consoles to be cheaper and be in as many homes as possible. This isn't the first time he's made statements like this, and as long as Activision doesn't get into hardware, it probably won't be the last. As much as we're happy to share Kotick's dream of cheaper consoles, we know that Nintendo isn't dropping prices anytime soon.Image update: You're welcome, Copa.
Former EA exec: Kotick's WoW remark meant to scare competition
Earlier this week Activision CEO Bobby Kotick made a bold statement saying that even with a $500 million or $1 billion investment his company couldn't produce a product that could compete with World of Warcraft -- lucky for him his company owns it. GameDaily reports that Lars Buttler, former VP of online at EA and current CEO of server-based game company Trion World Network, believes Kotick is just looking to scare off the competition.Buttler tells the site that Kotick is just defending the merger and believes WoW is just the beginning of the "connected era." Buttler goes on to use some fancy buzzwords but dismisses the idea that nobody can take on WoW no matter what the investment. He even says if developers disagree with Kotick that they should call his company. Trion is currently starting up and allegedly has products "well under way," but currently has no announcements.
How Activision Blizzard almost didn't happen
A proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission tells the tale of how the Activision Blizzard merger almost didn't happen. GameDaily sifted through the massive document to discover that discussions about the possible merger go back to November of 2006, with things really heating up going into last summer. After little progress on transaction terms, Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of Vivendi, called up Activision head Bobby Kotick in June to say that he "did not think it made sense to continue discussions concerning a possible transaction at that time."Around July, Kotick contacted Lévy with Activision's new proposal. The lawyers went to work and sometime around September, with "little progress on open issues," Kotick called the deal off. Strangely, Blizzard's Mike Morhaime and other Blizzard managers (who were under the Vivendi umbrella at the time) stepped up and got things back on track with a management structure proposal. By November the Activision Blizzard deal was final and the industry got another 800 lb. gorilla to keep EA company.
GameDaily 'Persons of the Year': #1 - 3 and readers' choice
GameDaily concluded its "Persons of the Year" feature today by announcing Nintendo America's COO Reggie Fils-Aime took the top spot; Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb took the readers' choice award. Fils-Aime bested Activision CEO Bobby Kotick (#2) and Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos (#3) because of the Wii's phenomenal success in the States. GameDaily had previously announced #4 and #5, which went to Aaron Greenberg and Jeff Gerstmann respectively.Major Nelson -- guru of Xbox -- received the readers' choice award after politely directing his loyal readership to GameDaily's website. Before Major Nelson stepped up his campaign, Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond was in the lead. Too bad Raymond didn't win though, GameDaily ended up having "Men of the Year" awards rather than "Persons of the Year."Read -- 2007 Persons of the Year #1Read -- Persons of the Year: Readers' Choice Unveiled
