Activision boss Bobby Kotick takes 50% pay cut after investor complaints

Bobby Kotick is going to remain the head of Activision Blizzard until 2023 but he’ll have to make do with a few million less in wages.

As the man ultimately in charge of everything from Call Of Duty to Overwatch and World Of Warcraft you’d expected Bobby Kotick to be earning a pretty penny, but as far as the company’s investors are concerned he’s been earning too much.

They’ve demanding for a while that he takes a pay cut and now he’s agreed to slashing his basic wages by 50%, to a mere $875,000 (£627,000).

His annual bonus will be reduced by the same percentage, which at a maximum would add up to $1.75 million (£1.25m) over the next two years.

All is not as it seems though, as Kotick still has the chance to earn up to 200% of his basic salary, thanks to the small print in his recent contract extension, that will see him remain CEO until at least March 2023.

Kotick also has another potential $200 million bonus coming up thanks to meeting sales goals over the last year, although Activision has previously disputed that figure – without clarifying exactly how much he’s in line for.

To be fair, Kotick has overseen an 8,100% increase in shareholder returns over the last decade, but investors have been unhappy about exactly how much he’s taking home for some time.

Kotick has been unpopular amongst gamers for even longer than that, thanks to his less than diplomatic comments in the past, although he was most recently criticised for taking a $200 million bonus at the same time as dozens of staff were made redundant.

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