Bobby Kotick, the long-time CEO of Activision Blizzard, is reportedly leaving the company following Microsoft’s acquisition.
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced its purchase of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. Now, sources close to The Wall Street Journal claim that Bobby Kotick will leave the company once the deal closes. Microsoft’s official announcement did not mention Kotick.
“Until this transaction closes, Activision Blizzard and Microsoft Gaming will continue to operate independently,” Phil Spencer, Xbox head, said. “Once the deal is complete, the Activision Blizzard business will report to me as CEO, Microsoft Gaming.”
The past several months have been turbulent for Activision Blizzard, in part due to allegations made against Kotick that he knew of sexual misconduct happenings at the company. Following that, multiple parties under Activision Blizzard’s umbrella began to call for Kotick’s resignation. Company employees even opened a strike fund to help provide financial assistance should they choose to strike. Call of Duty studio Raven Software even began walking out after Activision Blizzard laid off several contractors.
According to WSJ sources, Bobby Kotick is expected to leave once the Activision-Blizzard/Microsoft deal closeshttps://t.co/cSvFGdqpiO pic.twitter.com/6UklfQAnY1
— Nibel (@Nibellion) January 18, 2022
Microsoft’s acquisition deal with Activision Blizzard will likely take many months, if not years, to process. So it’s hard to know if Kotick will indeed step down once everything is signed and sealed.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
