$200m Kotick bonus

[Hinastorm]

They trimed the fat.
Ergo: They fired part of a division not expected to make any value within the foreseeable future; E-sports.
Don't get me wrong; i'm not saying e-sports holds no value; e-sport live events don't, especially with the ongoing pandemic.


It's one thing to critique capitalism... it's a whole other thing to suggest every single employee deserves that cut.
In reality day-to-day operations have very little to do with shareholder-value (they sustain it to a degree, but they don't drive it in any significant way), and the latter is actually what the higher-ups like Kottick are paid for in a corporate firm.


It is not that simple, but it's pretty close to it.
In your own example:
Calculate/rethink the trade-off in "enjoyment" you get from "top tier content" and "playing the class you want" and act on it.

Welll, uh, I play dps to top meters.

So....class balance is out of my control. I can't always play what I want, cause what I want might not top damage.

I can't just "change my mind" about this. This is how it is for me.

Trust me, i'm super jealous of people who can just send whatever class they want and ignore meters.

[Irian]

irony of posting that on a WoW fan forum lmao

There's no irony. I said if you don't like it, not me. I couldn't care less, I'm not the one making a moral stand against kotick because that's the equivalent of a fly trying to topple the eiffel tower.

Either way aside from giving SL and BfA a try I haven't been subbed to WoW for about three years now so your point's kinda lost either way. I just sorta still check into MMO-C for news updates to see if anything I care about happens.

[Atherions]

Any reasonable shareholder should be unhappy with this. It wasn't Bobbys incredible business skill that doubled the share price. It was Covid-19.

Unless he was the one orchestrating worldwide lockdowns he doesn't deserve such a huge bonus.

[crusadernero]

Well thats how its supposed to work. Thats how the society is buildt up now and apparently not enough people care about it or are unable to do anything about it. Its just more and more about the top exces in companies raking in as much money as possible.

Sadly, everything is working as intended.

[Zmagoslav]

He was arguing that the 200mil is better split among all the employees, you know, the people actually putting the work in to increase profits, instead of one man.

Are you arguing the opposite?

I am not arguing anything here.
I'm just pointing out that once the company goes corporate and public "generating profit" isn't as important as "generating shareholder value".
and no those are not even remotely the same thing. At least not outside the outdated economy 101 courses you might have been in.

Also: he seems to be pretending other employees, which were identified as crucial, didn't receive any bonuses at all...
And i am using the word "crucial" here because there's clearly a difference between what a CEO does for the value and what a "customer support operator" or some low level developer does for it.

[SirBeef]

Why is it every time he announces he's giving himself an obscene bonus, it's the same week they announce huge mass layoffs?

50 in a company of 1000s is not huge 1. Any company is not obligated to keep employees that are no longer needed just becasue they are doing well 2. They got a more than generous severance package 3.

[Craaazyyy]

they are leeches who do nothing and bring companies to ruin by siphoning every possible $ into their pockets instead of putting it back into product quality.

well his job is to make sure the company makes more money, which they do

[SirBeef]

The funny part is with the layovers they just did that 200m could have went to giving another 2 months to everyone in their severance. But hey...$200 Blizzard gift card. What a slap in the face lol.

They got let go, typically people get nothing. They got 3 months salary, a years worth of health care. I would have killed to get that from any job I was laid off from.

[minteK917]

Let's just hope that some of the people that criticize this aren't the same that go "It's my money" whenever they're flamed for perpetuating a system that encourages this.

Heres the problem with that logic. They live in the system, unless they can somehow move to the woods and cut themselves off from everything (which in our world would cost a lot of money) the only result of being homeless or die. You can criticize something and still be forced in it. Its almost like telling a slave, dude just free yourself.

[Zephire]

Imagine him keeping 2 m to himself and handing out the rest spread to other employees. That would be pretty cool.

For 10 000 employees (ass-pulled number, I have no idea how many work for ActiBlizz) that would be about $19 800 which seems reasonable.

[Grimbold21]

Heres the problem with that logic. They live in the system, unless they can someone move to the woods and cut themselves off from everything (which in our world would cost a lot of money) the only result of being homeless or die. You can criticize something and still be forced in it. Its almost like telling a slave, dude just free yourself.

Stop dividing people from their own agency. Also, that's hyperbole.

We're talking about Blizzard and the choices blizzard buying players make.

If one is outraged at this piece of news and at the same time buy every mount and collectible put up on the store, that makes one a hypocrite.

If "it's my money, i'll use it for whatever I want" is your stance, that's fine, it's your choice. Just be aware that if you find this ridiculous, you've helped perpetuate it.

[Gorsameth]

Activision-Blizzard is like every other major publicly traded company, more news at 11.

Should the world be different? sure.
But its not, and none of us here are going to change that.

[KrayZ33]

Stop dividing people from their own agency. Also, that's hyperbole.

We're talking about Blizzard and the choices blizzard buying players make.

If one is outraged at this piece of news and at the same time buy every mount and collectible put up on the store, that makes one a hypocrite.

If "it's my money, i'll use it for whatever I want" is your stance, that's fine, it's your choice. Just be aware that if you find this ridiculous, you've helped perpetuate it.

You are implying I can decide where my money goes to when I buy their products.
Just because for example, I buy WoW, pay for it, the mounts yada yada etc. etc. doesn't mean I want some fat dude at the top to get everything.
You are implying that, when I stop paying for all that stuff, their company structure will change and normal employees will get more money or something.
That will *never* happen though.
So in the end, the only thing that will happen is that more "normal dudes" will lose their job and the CEO gets 100m instead of 200m.

We can literally do absolutely nothing to change this. Only the workers themselves can and they won't do it because they very likely have no securities worth a shit since there is no system in place that grants them such.
"You complain? Well there's the door. Goodbye"

The fact that a company can fire people just like that even though they are doing well is proof that the system is at fault.
It's not that easy everywhere in the world, unless they really pay a lot of money... like several years worth depending on how long they have been with the company.

[ati87]

I don't understand why people are mad at Kotick. Sure he's a prick - but it's the company who are to "blame" for this. It's in his contract - read the article. Who wrote his contract? Himself? Hello?

This isn't a Kotick problem, it's a Activision Blizzard - and industry problem.

Problem is more how these compensations ever come to be and not a industry problem.
It's mostly rich people agreeing with other reach people that they together should make more money.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna11414878
https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbswork...h=448ff571a32b

It has really nothing to do with performance of that CEO.

[minteK917]

Stop dividing people from their own agency. Also, that's hyperbole.

We're talking about Blizzard and the choices blizzard buying players make.

If one is outraged at this piece of news and at the same time buy every mount and collectible put up on the store, that makes one a hypocrite.

If "it's my money, i'll use it for whatever I want" is your stance, that's fine, it's your choice. Just be aware that if you find this ridiculous, you've helped perpetuate it.

Then you dont get the problem, thats true of almost anything this person can buy, its not a blizzard thing. Every single human perpetuate the system, we live in it. Theres no utopia where everything you have down to your underwear is doing with massive exploitation. So id argue, where you money goes hardly matter lol. Note: I have not bought 1 blizzard product in the last 5 years. So im not throwing cash at them. But you can both know the entire system is flawed and needs massive regulation and be forced to put money in it, unless you want the quality of life of an homeless person.

[Kumorii]

The salary and bonuses are out of hand tbh... But at the same time, what can you do about it? Government stepping in and decide what everyone should earn isn't a good solution to a free market.

It's a culture thing that needs to be changed but it's hard when the ones in power benefit from the current work culture.

[Gorsameth]

The salary and bonuses are out of hand tbh... But at the same time, what can you do about it? Government stepping in and decide what everyone should earn isn't a good solution to a free market.

It's a culture thing that needs to be changed but it's hard when the ones in power benefit from the current work culture.

Completely free markets do not work, simple as that. There always have to be regulations or the entire thing goes to shit faster then you can sneeze.

Nothing would break if a CEO was not allowed to earn more then 500 times what a bottom level employee makes. (including stocks and whatever)

[Mouri Kogorou]

he would get away with even more, people will forget in maximum 2 weeks.

i just wonder, are bonuses taxable?

[Samuraijake]

Lol what? You are saying there should be a bloody and violent revolution over a gift card being given out as a severance package? You'll never fix that in any system because eventually people will need to be let go from a job for various reasons. And then outrage over perceived insult of a severance package will start the revolution all over again.

hes saying there should be a bloody revolution to stop things like rich ppl being greedy from constantly happening in our daily lives.

[ParanoiD84]

From reddit nothing against blizz though just some fun with this dude.

Also

Investment group slams Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’s massive bonus payment

https://www.pcgamer.com/investment-g...bonus-payment/