Activision Blizzard CEO was nearly fired, but Tencent and others helped him get out
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At the end of July last year, not only did the news of Activision Blizzard's $8.2 billion "redeem" from its former parent company Vivendi shocked the industry, but the subsequent lawsuit also made a lot of noise. With the completion of the merger, Activision Blizzard became an independent company led by Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly, whose investors include Chinese Internet giant Tencent, Davis Advisors and Leonard Green & Partners. Bobby Kotick has been the CEO of Activision for more than 20 years, but he was almost fired by the company last year. According to Bloomberg, part of the shareholder lawsuit emails showed that the French company Vivendi had considered firing Kotick instead of letting him as an investor group to buy back Activision Blizzard from the then parent company for $8.2 billion. According to the documents, Kotick had issued an ultimatum, saying that he would not cooperate with any plan by Vivendi to try to raise funds through Activision, of course, this did not include selling Activision shares to the leadership group including him and co-chairman Brian Kelly. Kotick added that if this did not go well, he would be fired by the board of directors. Vivendi CEO Jean-Francois Dubos said in an email, "I really want to know who will fire him." Vivendi CFO (then Activision Chairman) Philippe Capron once said, "I am happy to tell you that I will fire him. If you want, I can fire him tomorrow." As for why Kotick was not fired, Capron explained in an email that Kotick's public status was relatively high. At the time, Vivendi General Counsel Frederic Crepin suspected that Kotick was betting that Vivendi would not dare to fire him, probably because Activision Blizzard's market performance would react negatively if he was not there at the time. An Activision Blizzard spokesperson said today that the company's current board of directors is very supportive of Kotick and Kelly and their goals. Previously, Kotick and Kelly were sued along with Vivendi executives, accusing them of failing to protect the interests of minority shareholders when they served as co-members of Activision's board of directors. The lawsuit claims that their primary concern was providing Vivendi with liquidity for Activision and allowing Kotick and Kelly to gain control of Activision, while their investment group acquired shares at below-market prices, satisfying their personal interests while harming the interests of shareholders. As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity. |
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