Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, is having a bad week. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal published a report suggesting Kotick withheld information about sexual harassment and assault from the board. Although the board of directors released a statement of support for Kotick, that day Activision Blizzard employees walked out, asking that Kotick resign.
On Wednesday, a group of shareholders shared that sentiment, sending the board a letter asking that Kotick be replaced. Playstation CEO Jim Ryan also told employees in an email that Activision Blizzard “has not done enough to address a deep-seated culture of discrimination and harassment.” Today, XBox head Phil Spencer went even further, saying that he was “evaluating all aspects of our relationship with Activision Blizzard and making ongoing proactive adjustments” in an email to XBox staff. As of this writing, more than 900 employees have also signed a petition asking for Bobby Kotick to resign.
Videos by VICE
Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard’s board of directors is doubling down on its support of a guy no one other than them seems to like or respect. Sources told games industry outlet Game Developer that during an all-hands meeting, when asked if Kotick’s much-touted “zero tolerance” policy on harassment would apply to Kotick himself, Activision Blizzard leadership stated it did not “have evidence” of claims against Kotick, saying that whatever happened happened over a decade ago. The evidence could be found by reading a newspaper: In the Journal’s report, a spokesperson for Activision Blizzard and Kotick confirmed that he sent a voicemail to his former assistant in 2006 threatening to have her killed, saying “Mr. Kotick quickly apologized 16 years ago for the obviously hyperbolic and inappropriate voice mail, and he deeply regrets the exaggeration and tone in his voice mail to this day.”
The members of the Activision Blizzard board also belong to the boards of a variety of businesses and charitable organizations. Two of them—Bobby Kotick and Casey Wasserman—were in notorious predator Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book. Reveta Bowers also sits on the board of directors for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the FedCo Charitable Foundation and is chair of the national board of directors for Common Sense Media. Robert Corti sits on the board for Bacardi Limited. Dawn Ostroff is chief content and advertising business officer of Spotify, which also owns sports journalism site The Ringer and podcast producer Gimlet. Wasserman is on the board for Vox Media, and is a trustee at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
None of the above organizations responded to Motherboard’s requests for comment regarding their board members’ support of Bobby Kotick. The Ringer and Gimlet unions declined to comment.
