After Layoffs, Activision-Blizzard Gives CEO $200 Million Bonus

Just yesterday, we reported that Activision-Blizzard was laying off around 190 employees, largely from their esports division, as a cost-cutting measure. This was sad news, but it wasn’t quite as bad as we’re used to from Activision-Blizzard, a company that famously let go of 800+ employees after a record year, or abruptly canceled a whole esports league without warning employees or players. Which is why they decided to rectify that immediately by then revealing that despite the layoffs, their infamously overpaid CEO, Bobby Kotick, is getting an extra 200 million dollar bonus.

To be… “fair”, they’re not giving him the bonus because he let go of 190 people. Rather, it’s because 2020 saw a sharp increase in Activison-Blizzard’s stock prices, thanks largely to the virus, which triggered a clause that entitled him to the bonus. But still: when you think about how many employees you could keep on the company with even a portion of that 200 million, it makes one feel rather… bitter. Perhaps a little hungry, too, craving a nice big bite of the rich.

The group responsible for revealing this huge payday, CtW Investment Group, had this to say about the disgusting wealth being reaped by one of the richest men in America:
 

“While the increase in Activision’s stock price is somewhat commendable, as we stated last year and continue to assert, this achievement alone does not justify such a substantial pay outcome for the CEO.”

You might remember CtW Investment Group as the same people who tried to use legal means to stop Bobby Kotick from receiving such lavish bonuses the other year. And while their win rate isn’t impressive, the fact that they’re continuing to try to call out this insane inequality is a sad silver lining to this otherwise bloated dark cloud.

Activision-Blizzard has not commented.