Mike Morhaime is Leaving Blizzard

[KOUNTERPARTS]

so he stepped down from CEO and took an advisory role, and now he's officially leaving ?

very ominous ...

Blizzard Entertainment co-founder and former president Mike Morhaime announced in October 2018 that he had stepped down from his long-held position, but would remain as a strategic advisor, expressing love and admiration for the company.

that is an excerpt from the article (one of many articles) and here is the official statement:

"As previously disclosed, on October 3, 2018 Michael Morhaime entered into an agreement with Activision Blizzard, Inc. (the 'Company') pursuant to which he would provide strategic advice to the Company in an advisory capacity," the filing says. "Mr. Morhaime’s employment with the Company as a strategic advisor will conclude on April 7, 2019."

so ... with all the doom n gloom Acti-Blizz has been giving off lately - i wonder what this means for the state of affairs internally at Blizz Ent specifically

ARTICLE

[KingSapmi]

You jumped this discussion veeery late, this has been discussed to death all the way back before Halloween. I'm sure the thread is somewhere on the forums if you search for it.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

You jumped this discussion veeery late, this has been discussed to death all the way back before Halloween. I'm sure the thread is somewhere on the forums if you search for it.

so like i said in the 1st sentence, back in October it was announced he was stepping down as CEO and moving to an advisory role

now it's announced he is leaving altogther.

Thank you

[Deleted]

He's leaving the sinking ship just like the other big Blizzard names.

[mvaliz]

You jumped this discussion veeery late, this has been discussed to death all the way back before Halloween. I'm sure the thread is somewhere on the forums if you search for it.

But at that time, Morehaim wasn’t quitting. He was Just stepping down to an advisor position. You don’t just jump from that to outright quitting in under 3 months without a major problem since that should be EZ money at minimum...

[Jetstream]

Oh for fuck's sake. He's been doing this job for nearly thirty years and he's rich as hell.

It's not ominous. He's retiring. You know, that thing that half this forum will probably never get to do because human beings suck at planning?

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Oh for fuck's sake. He's been doing this job for nearly thirty years and he's rich as hell.

It's not ominous. He's retiring. You know, that thing that half this forum will probably never get to do because human beings suck at planning?

definitely a possibility, thank you for adding to the discussion .. although there is nothing to be annoyed/frustrated about lmao

[Kallisto]

so like i said in the 1st sentence, back in October it was announced he was stepping down as CEO and moving to an advisory role

now it's announced he is leaving altogther.

Thank you

Which is basically normal for a person leaving a high level position in a big business. There's nearly always a transitional period to make sure things run smoothly. Such period is normally 6 months. April is 6 months after October.

Generally business is being a business here.

[xpose]

It's not uncommon for executive roles to have an advisory period during a time of transition. This isn't some low tier position where you give two weeks and you bounce. They often setup 30-90 day transition periods. This is nothing new

[MoanaLisa]

It's not uncommon for executive roles to have an advisory period during a time of transition. This isn't some low tier position where you give two weeks and you bounce. They often setup 30-90 day transition periods. This is nothing new

Second this and his transition period is six months, not three. He went advisory in October. He's leaving for good in April.

Look: The fact is this. Once a CEO retires, a transition period is completely normal. No one in the new management team wants a former CEO hanging around forever after that.

Conspiratorial thinking in this case flies in the face of accepted practice at the top of large companies. Frankly I'm surprised he didn't terminate the advisory role at the end of the fiscal year.

And yes, there have been other threads, most of them closed because they soon veer into weirdness and conspiracy. So don't go there.

[MatadorMedia]

The timing of an official announcement is super awkward, since the company just lost two CFOs and their contract with Bungie. Maybe they just want to group all this together in one terrible week so it doesn't seem like a big deal come April.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

This fits the timetable we'd gotten, nothing shady here.

I think some folks just missed the part where his advisory role wasn't permanent. I know a lot of places never reported on the fact there was a timetable for him to leave fully, they just said he was transitioning to an advisory role.

[shise]

He's leaving the sinking ship just like the other big Blizzard names.

Based on what? he´s running Blizzard since early 90´s... probably wants to do something else with his time too.

[Relapses]

Based on what? he´s running Blizzard since early 90´s... probably wants to do something else with his time too.

Some neckbeard with a YouTube channel who churns out 15 "Blizzard is dying INSIDER SCOOP YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS" videos a week confirmed it. So it must be true.

[Soon-TM]

Sure, Morhaime just might want to retire and raise his grandchildren... but they have chosen an especially awkward time to announce it

[MoanaLisa]

Sure, Morhaime just might want to retire and raise his grandchildren... but they have chosen an especially awkward time to announce it

It's unlikely that Morhaime decided to retire on the spur of the moment. It's possible that this has been in the works for some time. Allan Adham returned to Blizzard a couple of years ago and everyone was surprised about that at the time. I don't know how surprising that looks now. We'll never know probably but moves like this where everyone leaves on good terms with transition periods that run for months are often planned out well in advance. I wouldn't make anything of the timing.

[Sanguinerd]

When I first read the news I thought Allan Adham or Frank Pearce were going to be the one to replace Mike - not crazy about Brack but time will tell.

[Corroc]

The timing of an official announcement is super awkward, since the company just lost two CFOs and their contract with Bungie. Maybe they just want to group all this together in one terrible week so it doesn't seem like a big deal come April.

They did not lose their contract with Bungie. They had full control over that contract and only way to end it was from their end. They ended it because Destiny 2 is not making enough money for them.

[DarkAmbient]

He sold a bunch of shares and quit while he was ahead, he can see which way the wind's blowing.

[MoanaLisa]

When I first read the news I thought Allan Adham or Frank Pearce were going to be the one to replace Mike - not crazy about Brack but time will tell.

From what I understand portions of what Mike used to do will be part of Adham's portfolio. It looks like that, for now, Blizzard will be run by a 3-person group: Brack, Adham and Ray Gresko will be what's being called the "management team". Brack as President. It doesn't appear that there is anyone designated as CEO as such. Brack is clearly the heir though.