Activision Blizzard Inc. plans to announce job cuts Tuesday in the face of slowing sales, according to people familiar with the matter, bringing fresh upheaval after spotty results roiled stocks this week. The shares dropped as much as 2.5 percent to $42.88 on Friday.
The layoffs, which could number in the hundreds, are part of a restructuring aimed at centralizing functions and boosting profit, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the changes haven’t been announced. Activision employed 9,800 people at the end of 2017.
The game maker, one of the largest in the world, acknowledged on a November conference call that some key titles, such as Overwatch and Hearthstone, were seeing flat or declining numbers of users. After disappointing sales of Destiny 2: Forsaken, the company parted ways with its developer, Bungie Inc., a move that could reduce annual revenue by as much as $400 million.