Update:
Responding to a request for comment, an Activision spokesperson has given NME this statement:
“We are pleased that, based on exceptional shareholder returns and responsiveness, Activision Blizzard shareholders again approved our say-on-pay proposal and re-elected our Board directors with an average of 96% of votes. The additional time shareholders requested allowed them to thoroughly review the facts about Activision Blizzard’s rigorous pay-for-performance compensation practices as well as changes the Board made to our executive compensation based on extensive feedback from shareholders.”
We’ve also clarified within the main body of the story that CtW does not directly represent Activision Blizzard investors, but is part of a coalition of labour unions.
Original Story:
Activision Blizzard has attracted controversy by approving CEO Bobby Kotick’s £111million ($155million) bonus.
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According to reports, 54 per cent of shareholders approved the vote for Kotick’s compensation plan, despite the efforts of CtW Investment Group, who had requested investors vote down the proposal (thanks to GamesIndustry.biz).
CTW doesn’t
The approval represents a dip from the previous year’s 56.8 per cent approval, which is the lowest that the approval rating has been in recent years. Kotick took a voluntary 50 per cent pay cut earlier in 2021, but the current bonus includes awards for multi-year objectives set in 2016.
Pressure came from CtW in 2020, which made a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which said: “Despite repeated low approval votes from shareholders, Activision Blizzard maintains multiple, overlapping opportunities for its CEO to earn outsize equity awards, even when performance-related vesting thresholds have not been met”.
