[Megathread] Activision-Blizzard Employee Moves

[The Anax]

appreciate what moana did to clear things up. shame we cant put a 'misleading flair' like the reddit post has

Trust me, next time I read any story involving Blizzard, I promise, I won't post a thing about it. I thought it might be interesting since, like it or not, it could have an effect on the Irvine Blizzard as well, or anything else Blizzrad releated, because whatever affects Activision Blizzard > could affect "Irvine" Blizzard > could affect we players of WoW. It was never meant as misleading. I had no idea I am supposed to put Activision in front of Blizzard every time I say Blizzard. Anyway, lesson learned.

[Raven]

I have inside information that he quit because he has issues with the Azerite system.

He also doesn't have a phone.

And here i thought it was to get as far away from the community as possible.

[burek]

I'm always constantly amazed by the fascination this board has with C-level people, enterprise organization, business unit arrangements, stock-market deals, how software development works and what developers do or should be doing.

Most of the time it seems these concepts get completely mixed up and it seems strange conspiracy theories and ideas (like a CFO faking their LinkedIn page) gain traction over simple common sense and cursory wikipedia reading.

This thread is a very good example of the "daily WTF" that happens here and very little of it has anything to do with World of Warcraft.

Exactly. I wonder if they obsess about CEOs of all the other companies whose products they are consuming. No sane person cares about who CEO or whatever of the Coca Cola company is.

[MoanaLisa]

TBH the activision side of things don't seem to be making many games at all these days anyway. The annual COD and Destiny expansions have been pretty much it outside of Spiro/Crash remakes. They are publishing Sekiro this year but have no hand in the development it seems as it is wholly done by From Software, who are owned by Kadokawa in Japan. Both are doing somewhat bad in terms of new games released and IPs. I just hope from the blizzard side this blizzcon outside of new expansion they go in hard with new stuff.

ATVI is acting like the holding company it is. They mostly seem to just acquire what they need. Activision may still be an in-house game development studio but it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't. ATVI buys or partners with studios to produce product which then gets released/distributed under the logo. The list of developers for different CoD games includes Infinity Ward, Treyarch and about a dozen others, none of them Activision as such. Destiny is still Bungie I think. Skylanders has been through several developers starting with Toys for Bob and lately Vicarious Visions.

I really have no idea beyond that since they've changed so much over the years. If anyone who really knows about Activision in-house development wants to chime in that would be great.

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appreciate what moana did to clear things up. shame we cant put a 'misleading flair' like the reddit post has

Thanks. I changed the thread title to add Activision and posted a note in mod text. Top posting or editing top posts is something I do pretty sparingly. It might have been the best way in this case though. Appreciate the hat tip though. Wasn't exactly how I had planned settling down after NYE parties

[solvexx]

Man had nothing to do with Blizzard's identity. He was poached and accepted with a chance of more money, ATVI found out and fired him.

You're the only logical poster in this thread. Every other post can't get past the part where Activision literally said the firing was for non-performance based issues.

[The Anax]

Exactly. I wonder if they obsess about CEOs of all the other companies whose products they are consuming. No sane person cares about who CEO or whatever of the Coca Cola company is.

I have autism, so while, as far as I am aware, I am considered sane, I guess I could be insane. I assume it would be a spectrum? I do know that when I read something that I think is related to WoW in some way, and I think the story may be of interest to the community, I shared it. As far as my comment about the LinkedIn page, I actually once made a totally fake LinkedIn page claiming all kinds of funny things, like that I was CEO of both Apple and Microsoft. Granted this was probably 8 or 9 years ago, and maybe they have changed (I got the job, I applied for because they thought my LinkedIn page was funny and made me stand out), but I could not find a 3rd party verification to what Moana had said. Then, I was asking for that, typing on my little phone screen, so she posted and our responses got over laid. In other words, my typing on my phone was taking long, and in her head she was able to respond fast, and I was not getting to see what anyone was saying until after I made my other post.

In the end, we finally got third party verification. As you say, I may be insane, but I am sane enough not to use, for example, Wikipedia entries when discussing things online. In this case, I was not going to simply accept (and absolutely no offense to her, because she does great moderating) Moana's response at face value. I obsess over things I want to know about, and once we had that verification, I was able to rest on it. Now, granted, you and the others judging me may be far more sane, intelligent, and all around greater human beings that I will ever aspire to- but this post was made with good intent and upon good faith, and I had no idea what it was going to become, nor that I would be insulted for sharing something I thought was interesting.

[solvexx]

You can read a lot into this but this is honestly not that unusual. Stocks are down. Sure that has a lot to do with the markets but investors need to see something being done anyway and a CFO lifting is a good example of that. Any CFO at a company like Activision knows this to be the case. So he got let go and was hired immedately at another high tier corporation. He knew it was coming and other companies were waiting to pick him up. Once you make it into his world firings just happen. They usually sign contracts that pay them well on the way in and well on the way out if its early. I wouldnt doubt if he is happy and made out with a ton of money ontop of that instant hire that was assured before he left.

What does it mean for us though? Well it tells us stock price does matter. It also likely means a bad investor earnings call is coming up. But remember what bad is to these people. Bad is not hitting a certain level of growth in profits not a loss. I have no doubt Activison will still be well into the green with profits. It just will not have hit the growth in them they wanted. So it was LIKELY a two punch knock out for this guy to please investors. One they lost money on the market and don't want them to continue a sell off and two earnings didn't meet a likely high expectation which could also trigger a sell off.

So it is just a company asking for another chance to investors. Not gamers. I would suspect things to get worese for gamers as this new guy does whatever it takes to get more cash at a lower cost.

Did you even read the filing? It literally says he was fired for non-performance based issues. He was fired because he was shopping around for another job.

Your post is full of misleading and false information.

[Coffeh]

Did you even read the filing? It literally says he was fired for non-performance based issues. He was fired because he was shopping around for another job.

Your post is full of misleading and false information.

Wait, it says he was fired for reason x. Well, that must be true then. No company has ever lied about such a thing.

[Gorsameth]

Wait, it says he was fired for reason x. Well, that must be true then. No company has ever lied about such a thing.

This isn't just a press statement where they can say anything they want.
As a public company its an official filing, lying on an official filing to shareholders is a crime.

So yes, I do believe them when they say its not related to performance.
a billion % bonus trust because of the guy moving to Netflix a day later, which basically proved he was not so much fired as poached.

[Gadzooks]

Actually it does say a great deal. For a exec whos work hisytory is shown to be very stable and staying long term with companies, it is very telling that he is jumping ship after only 18 months. He either does not get along with Bobby Kottick, or does not think ATVI has any growth potential. His leaving and being fired on new years eve essentially says quite a bit. I am sorry you just dont know enough about Business to see that

Also consider that his previous job was in entertainment, at Disney. Maybe he just doesn't like the game industry, and wants to get back into a job where he gets to meet celebrities at company functions.

Ego is *always* a consideration, especially at that level. And money. Netflix is throwing money around in a crazy way, they could have offered him a sizeable salary/stock option bump.

[FelPlague]

My god. That dude is probably the personification of everything wrong with Youtube personalities reviewing or commenting on games.
Christ.

yeah.. pretty much.. and it is pretty fucking sad how many likes the video has...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SpgCdMXkmw
if your gunna watch, use addblock, dont wannsa give this guy money.

[MoanaLisa]

Wait, it says he was fired for reason x. Well, that must be true then. No company has ever lied about such a thing.

In this case it likely is true. ATVI's filing on the matter was to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). You don't screw around with that.

Good story from Variety which will of course look at all of this from the Hollywood side. That's probably more relevant with respect to the legal maneuverings involved in the switch. Part of all of this too is that as of January 1, 2019 ATVI must have someone acting as CFO. It clearly cannot be Spencer Neumann. Neumann is heading back to the same business sector he was in with Disney and as a member of the Netflix leadership team is an interesting choice when it comes to the upcoming battle between Netflix and Disney streaming services.

https://variety.com/2019/digital/new...rd-1203097414/

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Also consider that his previous job was in entertainment, at Disney. Maybe he just doesn't like the game industry, and wants to get back into a job where he gets to meet celebrities at company functions.

Ego is *always* a consideration, especially at that level. And money. Netflix is throwing money around in a crazy way, they could have offered him a sizeable salary/stock option bump.

Exactly.

[Thage]

to prevent what ? you are not talking about some low level team leader only about CFO of multi billion dollar company - he had acces to any kind of data he wanted - people like this dont give a shit when they are leaving because they have golden parachutes in their contract equal to like 500 years of your salary .

also for people like this their name is everything - you watched too many holywood movies if you think that those people when leaving any company make any stupid malicious movements

you are talking about a man who was making almost 1 mln $ a month '

be real.

And you also misinterpret what I'm getting at. It's not about malice, it's about apathy. If the person whose job is to manage your multibillion dollar company's financial assets is on his way out the door, he's going to be less focused on his job and care less if he fucks up. It's not about preventing him selling company secrets or whatever. Securing computers for outgoing personnel is standard operating procedure at any company where personnel are assigned workstations with computers, partly to avoid losing company secrets but mostly just to make sure you didn't fuck up something important on your way out. Doing this takes time, and in the meantime the sooner it's done the sooner that computer can be reassigned to new personnel (there's a very good possibility Middle-Management Worker Drone A gets Executive B's repurposed work laptop once Executive B leaves, and if that happens you don't want Middle-Management Worker Drone A to have access to the company's financial assets through Executive B's leftover data).

[MoanaLisa]

Activision has always been firmly a publishing company - that's how it was founded and I believe that's how it's been running for most of its lifespan. I don't think they've ever (as far as I can remember?) released in-house developed games, unless you count in those very early games made by Infocom.

There is this from Wikipedia but nothing after this except for the granting of some patents:

In 2011 Activision restarted its in-house development team, releasing Generator Rex: Agent of Providence in October 2011 for PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Wii, and Xbox 360.[38] The game was roundly ignored by critics, with no review scores available on Metacritic as of February 2012.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision
It's not a major part of their business at all but was interested if they had folded it to go full holding company/distribution.

[Volitar]

Does this mean Netflix is going to start getting shady and try and implement shitty business practises. Perhaps lootboxes where you have a chance to unlock the show you want, that will really up viewer engagement.

[Gorsameth]

Also consider that his previous job was in entertainment, at Disney. Maybe he just doesn't like the game industry, and wants to get back into a job where he gets to meet celebrities at company functions.

Ego is *always* a consideration, especially at that level. And money. Netflix is throwing money around in a crazy way, they could have offered him a sizeable salary/stock option bump.

I wonder what the odds are that he had a non-compete clause for a year from Disney, so he had to get a 'temp' job in another industry.

[Gadzooks]

I wonder what the odds are that he had a non-compete clause for a year from Disney, so he had to get a 'temp' job in another industry.

Excellent point. I hadn't considered that, but you might be onto something.

[Tharkkun]

I saw the Heelvsbabyface video and he linked us this file:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/d...-42214_18k.htm

"On December 31, 2018, Activision Blizzard, Inc. (the “Company”) notified Spencer Neumann, the Company’s current Chief Financial Officer, that the Company intends to terminate Mr. Neumann’s employment for cause unrelated to the Company’s financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures. Mr. Neumann has been placed on a paid leave of absence from the Company pending an opportunity for him to demonstrate why cause does not exist to terminate his employment or why termination of his employment is not otherwise justified."

Oh, im pretty sure there is always a "cause" for firing someone. Even though firing without cause/reason exists

He's in an at will employment state which means they can fire someone for any reason at any time. But...if they give a reason that is incorrect or didn't disclose the reason because it's illegal you can turn around and sue them for wrongful termination.

[MoanaLisa]

Oh, im pretty sure there is always a "cause" for firing someone. Even though firing without cause/reason exists

Pretty sure that at the "C" level of executive management the CFO going to work for Netflix is something that ATVI can fire him for. It would be true that the reason to separate from him would have nothing to do with the "company's financial reporting or disclosure controls or procedures". That's legalese for "He wasn't messing with the books or embezzling or anything of that nature. What Wall Street knows about our finances is still true."

That's actually important for investors to know. This filing likely also gets ATVI off the hook for any commitments made when they hired him about stock options, golden parachutes or anything of that nature.

[Exerionx]

Sure, but wouldn't you kinda expect talk about gaming though?

Absolutely. I'm just saying it's better to assume the average user here has no idea how business actually works, especially in the more executive sector.