The planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft is causing a lot of movement in the company. The question of what will happen to the controversial CEO Bobby Kotick is still open.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard for a whopping $70 billion hit yesterday like a bomb. But one question kept coming up afterwards: what will happen to the controversial Activision boss Bobby Kotick? Kotick has come under increasing fire in recent months after allegations of discrimination and sexual harassment have surfaced across the company, including a lawsuit from the state of California. There were even calls for Kotick to be thrown out, since he had apparently approved of what was happening in the company or even covered it up.
It was therefore perceived with much irritation that Kotick would continue to hold his leadership position despite the takeover by Microsoft. A report in Wall Street Journal, citing insiders, now suggests that Kotick’s days at Activision Blizzard are numbered nonetheless. According to the agreement, Kotick is to step down once the acquisition is complete, which is currently expected to be at the end of fiscal year 2023 (end of June 2023). Accordingly, the change in leadership would be a contractual part of the takeover.
Sounds reasonable. In the context of the numerous effects of a takeover, Microsoft should hardly be interested in throwing the management floor upside down prematurely. In addition, the US antitrust authorities have not yet approved the deal and switching high positions beforehand would make little sense.
Despite this, the takeover was received primarily positively by the workforce. The internal employee representative ABK Workers Alliance also emphasized that the takeover would not change the group’s goals. You want to continue fighting for an improvement in working conditions and the rights of employees.
This could give the ABK Workers Alliance an open door at Microsoft, because Microsoft already emphasized during the takeover that the expansion of the inclusive Microsoft corporate culture to the new studios is on the agenda. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella already confirmed in an investor call that there is a lot to do after the closing to create a culture in which everyone can do their best work.
