Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Re-elected to Company’s Board


A promo screenshot for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is set to retain his position on the company’s Board of Directors for a new one-year term following an annual shareholder meeting, which also saw a proposed report into Activision’s efforts to address alleged issues regarding harassment in its workplace be approved.

As reported by Rock Paper Shotgun and Kotaku, Kotick being voted to retain his position is not without controversy, with both employees of the company and some of its shareholders calling for the CEO to resign last year amid the series of harassment-related lawsuits and scandals which rocked the company over the course of 2021.

The approval of the report is also an interesting development, as it follows the publishing of an internal report by Activision into the harassment allegations concerning itself, which denied in its conclusion “that there was ever a systemic issue with harassment, discrimination or retaliation” within the company.

Kotick to Remain on Activision Board For at Least One More Year

According to the report of the meeting published by Activision, the vote to re-elect Kotick specifically ended with 533,703,580 votes in favour of the executive, with 62,597,199 voting against and 2,162,178 voters abstaining.

Despite the well-publicised criticism directed at Kotick in particular over the past twelve months, fellow executives Robert Morgado, Robert Corti, Barry Meyer and Brian Kelly all received more votes against their re-election than the CEO.

When it came to the report into the company’s “efforts to prevent abuse, harassment and discrimination”, which was proposed by a stockholder, voting was a little tighter, with approval coming via 379,308,934 votes in favour, with 183,876,515 siding against and 35,277,508 abstaining.

In a press release regarding the meeting, Activision said of the proposed report: “Consistent with our ongoing commitments, we will carefully consider the proposal to enhance our future disclosures. Activision Blizzard remains deeply committed to a respectful, welcoming workplace for all colleagues.”

Reacting to the non-binding nature of this vote, which could see Activision elect not to issue the report, Jessica Gonzalez, a founder of ABetterABK, an advocacy organisation which has been campaigning on behalf of employees at Activision Blizzard, said on Twitter: “the employees will hold them to it”.

Meanwhile, one stockholder proposal presented in the meeting, which would have seen the company nominate an ‘Employee Representative Director’ was rejected via 555,091,091 votes against, as opposed to 30,425,554 for, with 12,946,312 having abstained.

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