Shareholders approved a $ 155 million paycheck for Activision Blizzard Inc CEO Robert Kotick on Monday with a 54 percent margin after the company took the rare step of delaying its vote on compensation by a week. executive.
The maker of popular video games, including “World of Warcraft” and “Call of Duty,” faced a campaign by a group of investors against its CEO’s pay, saying the company had not addressed its concerns from previous years.
Investors criticized Activision Blizzard for extending Kotick’s contract until 2023, a period they say is too short to cut his salary significantly.
Agent Advisor Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) also recommended Kotick’s salary, calling it “too great.”
Kotick’s salary was originally scheduled to be voted on on June 14, but the company delayed it to allow investors to fully review the changes it made to its benefits. Activision Blizzard said it reduced the maximum possible payment for the price of a Kotick share by 40 percent, increased the shares it must own and limited other bonuses.
“During the additional time requested by shareholders, they were allowed to thoroughly review the facts of Activision Blizzard’s strict pay-for-success action,” the company said in a statement.
Activision Blizzard also said the stock’s performance was “unusual.” Management salaries are generally related to the performance of a company.
Most companies receive support from almost all of their investors for their salaries. Those who receive little support have said they will make changes to their payment systems, such as the pharmaceutical company Cardinal Health.
“Activision is expected to make further changes in response to a referendum in which 46 percent of shareholders expressed dissatisfaction,” said Michael Varner, director of compensation research at CtW Investment Group, a union-led fund that led the campaign against Kotick’s salary. . “They will not be able to ‘rest on their laurels’ alone with the changes they have made so far.”
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