Activision over Blizzard

[Gimlix]

Hey there!

Just wondering what has Activision to say over Blizzard? Like can they say "Mike Morhaime, We want you to stop making World of Warcraft Expansions and close it down immediatly!" or is Mike Morhaime still the big boss that has to say over anything?

I don't really understand what Activision has in control over? Like everything or barely anything??

[Pool of the Dead]

They have no direct power over Blizzard, they are a partnered business merged company meaning their stockholders gain benefits from both but they work autonomously of each other.

Activision has about as much say in what Blizzard does to World of Warcraft, as Blizzard would have a say in what happens in the next Call of Duty. Which is nothing.
They don't answer to eachother, they just merged together to bring in a wider stockholder portfolio.

People that like to blame Activision for Blizzard decisions or use them as a reason for why WoW is now "bad" are just idiots.

[Noctifer616]

Hey there!

Just wondering what has Activision to say over Blizzard? Like can they say "Mike Morhaime, We want you to stop making World of Warcraft Expansions and close it down immediatly!" or is Mike Morhaime still the big boss that has to say over anything?

I don't really understand what Activision has in control over? Like everything or barely anything??

Activision doesn't work with Blizzard, they are both sister companies under Activision Blizzard.

If you go read the company bylaws the CEO of Activision Blizzard can't make any changes in regards to Blizzard without the approval of the board of directors.

Also, I believe all Blizzard IPs are owned by Blizzard, not Activision Blizzard, so I would imagine that Mike as the CEO of Blizzard has the power to do with those IPs as he pleases.

[Lochton]

Hey there!

Just wondering what has Activision to say over Blizzard? Like can they say "Mike Morhaime, We want you to stop making World of Warcraft Expansions and close it down immediatly!" or is Mike Morhaime still the big boss that has to say over anything?

I don't really understand what Activision has in control over? Like everything or barely anything??

They don't own Blizzard, they work under the same board. So, no, they couldn't say so.

[Gimlix]

So mike morhaime is still the big boss?

[Lochton]

So mike morhaime is still the big boss?

Of Blizzard Entertainment, yes

[Gimlix]

Of Blizzard Entertainment, yes

And why did they go away from vivendi again? Or were they something else?

[Mytheros]

People still ask that question? Seriously...its been years now since that whole deal was done. Just like its moronic when people used to blame things they don't like with WoW on the head of Activision (I forget the guys name his last name is like Kotick or something) ..... If people would have just taken 10 minutes to do a little research on the Activision - Blizzard relationship they would have found that Blizzard still pretty much operates as an independent entity with all creative control still under Morhaime and company. What folks sometimes forget is Blizzard on its own is a multi-billion dollar company, even without the aid of being part of the Activision-Blizzard deal. They could stand on their own two feet if they had to.

[Noctifer616]

And why did they go away from vivendi again? Or were they something else?

Vivendi has financial issues and Activision Blizzard feared that they would take their money from them, so they decided to buy themselves out. Activision Blizzard had a deal where Vivendi couldn't touch their money for a certain amount of years, as that was coming to an end they split.

[Lochton]

Noct explained it a little better, within some details but still fine.

[Noctifer616]

The board of directors in Activision-Blizzard is mostly filled with Activision directors. So in a way Activision has more power over Blizzard than the other way around, this also shows in the fact that the merger is called "Activision Blizzard" and not "Blizzard Activision" (the most important name always goes first).

The merger wasn't between Activision and Blizzard, it was between Vivendi Games (they owned Blizzard since 98) and Activision. However, since Blizzard is a name better known to gamers than Vivendi, it was called Activision Blizzard, not Activision Vivendi.

[Stormspark]

Ok, here's now things work. I will list TWO big gaming companies so that people can see how subsidiaries and such work.

Activision Blizzard (parent/holding company - this is the result of the merger of Vivendi Games and Activision. They decided to change the name from Vivendi Games to Activision Blizzard because Vivendi is not well known outside of France.)
|
/ \
Blizzard Activision

Bethesda has the same sort of arrangement

Zenimax Media
|
/ \
Bethesda Zenimax Online Studios (creators of ESO)

EDIT: Complete formatting fail. Oh well, it looked right on my edit screen.