An investment group with a significant supply of shares in Activision-Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) is speaking out against CEO Robert Kotick's pay. Activision-Blizzard's Board of Directors is expected to vote on executive compensation on Thursday.
CtW Investment Group, an investment firm with a history of activist against unethical corporate behavior, filed a letter with the Securities Exchange Commission this week, calling out the excessive compensation of Activision-Blizzard's CEO. Kotick's pay, which is ostensibly performance based, was identified as a significant concern by the investment group when considered with the context of Activision's recent layoffs.
"We note that three of these objectives are clearly related to human capital management and that Kotick's apparent failure to achieve more than half of the targeted performance strongly suggests that Activision Blizzard's skewed approach to human capital management -- lavishing multi-million dollar rewards on the CEO as employees face layoffs -- needs to be addressed before it manifests in deeper operational problems," CtW said in its SEC filing.
Particularly concerning about the layoffs was that Activision-Blizzard had experienced "record results in 2018", but despite being record-breaking, the company did not consider it adequate and laid off nearly 800 staffers. Despite the company laying off workers in the interest of "streamlining," Kotick still received an exorbitant compensation package.
CtW's SEC filing comes before a June 11 vote on executive pay by Activision-Blizzard's board of directors. The pay proposal is lacking several targets for the year, and some of Kotick's targets appear lower than the previous year. Despite this, there is no change in Kotick's pay, despite being "merit-based." CtW has recommended voting against the measure.
Kotick's history with the company may play into his excessive compensation; something alluded to by Activision-Blizzard itself. Kotick arrived at the company in 1990 when Activision was crumbling and helped the company not only shrug off its debt but rapidly expanded the gaming firm into the massive brand it is known as today. Kotick's work in turning the company around is worth a great deal of merit in and of itself, but lowered targets and performance goals not being met in recent years cast a large shadow, especially amid layoffs and the staggering gap between Kotick's pay and that of Activision's many administrative staff and game development teams.