In the seemingly never-ending saga of the Activision Blizzard and Microsoft deal, another new tidbit of information has come to light, this time regarding the company’s CEO, Bobby Kotick. In a not-so-surprising move, it’s been reported that Kotick would “absolutely remain” at the company even if the deal doesn’t happen.
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First reported by Fox Business, sources close to the situation have said that Kotick would stay as the CEO of Activision Blizzard despite the possibility that the acquisition deal with Mircosoft could be blocked or fail altogether. The same sources also report that the company is confident the deal will get approved in the UK and that any issues with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will be resolved.
To some, this may come as a surprise as it’s been reported numerous times that Kotick would step down as CEO if the deal goes through, though even before the deal’s announcement, there were calls for Kotick to walk away following the harassment and sexual misconduct allegations at Activision Blizzard. Not that it would make a difference to him, given he would be in line to receive a hefty payout if he were removed or replaced during the takeover.
Kotick hasn’t been the most popular figure in the gaming world in the last few years, and neither has Activision Blizzard. In the last few years, Kotick has come under fire for donating large sums of money to anti-abortion Republicans and recently stating that any block by the UK of the merger would result in post-Brexit Britain looking like “Death Valley.” He has also made recent comments slamming the FTC, CMA, and EU, stating “they don’t know our industry,” and has accused Sony of trying to sabotage the deal, where he said that his calls to Sony chief and other executives were not being returned. Going so far as to say that the idea that the company would not support PlayStation after the deal is “absurd.”
