1. Robert A Kotick was born on 1963 and is an American businessman who served as the chief executive officer of Activision Blizzard and its predecessor, Activision, from 1991 to 2023.
37 Facts About Bobby Kotick
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Bobby Kotick became the CEO of Activision through a hostile takeover during the prior year.
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Bobby Kotick has served on several boards, including The Coca-Cola Company from 2012 to 2022 and Yahoo from 2003 to 2008.
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Robert A Kotick was born in 1963 in the United States and grew up in New York.
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In junior high school, Bobby Kotick had his own business cards, and in high school, he ran a business renting out Manhattan clubs on off nights.
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Bobby Kotick studied art history at the University of Michigan in the early 1980s.
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Steve Jobs met with Bobby Kotick and convinced him to drop out of college.
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Bobby Kotick took the advice and left the University of Michigan to focus on building his company.
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Bobby Kotick planned to remove the keyboard and disk drive from the Amiga 500 and turn it into a video game system.
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Bobby Kotick was unsuccessful in persuading Commodore's then-Chairman Irving Gould to sell control of the company.
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In June 1990, Bobby Kotick became CEO of Leisure Concepts, Nintendo's third-party licensing agent.
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In 1991, Bobby Kotick changed the name back to Activision, performed a full restructuring of the company, and refocused the company on making and marketing video games.
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In November 2006, Bobby Kotick entered into discussion with French media conglomerate Vivendi.
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Bobby Kotick engineered the merger, which created a new company, Activision Blizzard.
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Bobby Kotick said he aimed to build on Blizzard's successes, including expanding into Asia.
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Bobby Kotick has used Activision Blizzard's industry position to push partners for changes that he maintains would benefit the gaming community.
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In July 2009, Bobby Kotick threatened to stop making games for the PlayStation 3 platform if Sony did not cut the price of the console.
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Bobby Kotick urged the British government to reward Activision for continuing to invest in the country's pool of game developers by providing Activision with the same kinds of tax incentives provided by Canada, Singapore, and eastern bloc countries.
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Bobby Kotick expanded Activision Blizzard's mobile presence in 2016 when it acquired King, the creator of Candy Crush.
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Bobby Kotick acquired the professional esports organization Major League Gaming.
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Also in 2016, Bobby Kotick announced the creation of Activision Blizzard's professional Overwatch League.
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Bobby Kotick then became involved in litigation with the law firm selected to defend him, Gordon, and Cove Management, in a dispute over legal fees.
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In October 2021, Bobby Kotick asked the Activision Blizzard board to cut his salary to the lowest amount allowed by California law, and to not to receive any bonuses or be granted any equity amid lawsuits against the company.
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The article asserted that Bobby Kotick had threatened to kill an assistant on their voice mail.
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Bobby Kotick apologized, and the dispute was settled out of court.
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The Board's statement expressed confidence that Bobby Kotick "appropriately addressed workplace issues brought to his attention" and supported his efforts to lead the company, while others urged Bobby Kotick to resign or to be replaced in light of these allegations.
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Bobby Kotick is a non-executive director for The Coca-Cola Company and a board member at the Center for Early Education and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
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Bobby Kotick was the 21st most highly compensated CEO in the United States that year.
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Bobby Kotick earned 319 times more than the average Activision Blizzard employee's salary of $97,000 in that year, putting him in 75th place among US CEOs.
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Bobby Kotick was working under a deal signed in November 2016 with Activision Blizzard under which he earned bonuses if Activision Blizzard meets certain financial targets related to mergers and acquisitions.
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Some statements Bobby Kotick has made about his business strategy have garnered negative media attention.
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Bobby Kotick has focused on developing intellectual property which can be, in his words, "exploited" over a long period, to the exclusion of new titles which cannot guarantee sequels.
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Bobby Kotick married Nina Spiegel and they have three daughters: Grace, Emily and Audrey.
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Bobby Kotick identifies as a libertarian and donated to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2007 and 2008.
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Bobby Kotick endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 US presidential election.
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In 2011, Bobby Kotick had a cameo appearance in the film Moneyball as Oakland Athletics co-owner Stephen Schott.
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In 2009, Bobby Kotick co-founded the Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit benefit corporation.