Kotick takes paycut, Blizzard gets zero tolerance policy

And more women and non-binary people in the workforce. Arbitration is out. More updates.
h ttps://kotaku.com/bobby-kotick-takes-another-pay-cut-waives-arbitration-1847953970

It is something, people will still not like Kotick at the helm.

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The pay cut to his salary down to $875,000 from $1,750,000

There. Because I’m sure that’s what most people are going to look for.

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Small but something.
For someone like him money is not a problem tho, i doubt he would have to change anything in his life.

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He will be fine. With millions already in stock options and in the bank, he will not suffer financially. I think at this point, he could just work for free and still be fine for the rest of his life.

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No, that was previous.
He dropped his own salary to $62,500.
With zero bonuses, and zero stock options.

Kotick’s earlier pay cut this past April brought his salary down to $875,000 from $1,750,000—although he was and is certainly still rich. In today’s letter, he is asking for an even bigger salary reduction.

“Lastly, I want to ensure that every available resource is being used in the service of becoming the industry leader in workplace excellence,” writes Kotick. “Accordingly, I have asked our Board of Directors to reduce my total compensation until the Board has determined that we have achieved the transformational gender-related goals and other commitments described above.”

To be more exact, Kotick asked the Board to cut his pay to the base salary under California law, which is $62,500.

“To be clear, this is a reduction in my overall compensation, not just my salary,” added the CEO. “I am asking not to receive any bonuses or be granted any equity during this time.”

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I mean he will make more keeping the stock price high than his salary would pay anyway.

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Even if that’s so. He still needs to actually keep the company from taking another stock price crash.

Which is easier said than done.

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I am cautious about this. Kotick has been criticised heavily and rightly so for doing almost nothing to combat this whole debacle, so him doing something is in a right direction.
However, time will tell if he manages to keep his word.

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… I have to say, this is a more fair action than I would have given him credit for.
I’m super critical about a CEO who does not take responsibility when the company takes hits, I.E. they do not suffer as the rest of the company might. I was internally thinking that he should lose his job since it’s ultimately the CEO who SHOULD take the fall when something this bad comes to light… but dropping down to an actual workers salary and removing the largest part of a CEO’s compensation package (usually) which is equity and bonuses… I gotta eat my words … Lets hope this actually means change is happening.

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The big one to me, is that Blizzard dropped the lawsuit shield that prevented individual employees from suing for sexual harassment stuff.

Like him taking a lot less money, is really nice, but not as critical as that.
Kotick drops arbitration for Blizz staff

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As someone who wasn’t super up on the legal nitty gritty of what they were doing I understood more that someone with a complaint had to try and fix it within the company first BEFORE legal action was taken, which is terrifying in an of itself, not that they couldn’t take legal action, just that blizzard reserved the right to try and settle first and usually used fear tactics to either make them shut up or settle without public view.

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Well, the short if it is, that binding arbitration effectively makes lawsuits by individuals impossibly difficult.

So dropping that kind of legal protection, is a big deal.

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so they’re implementing discriminatory hiring policies after a PR disaster? Doesn’t seem very smart to me

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What exactly is discriminatory to actually make an effort against discriminatory practices?

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Is it hiring merit-based individuals that just so happen to be women, or just hiring based on gender? Most companies tend to do the later, and it shows in their products.

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Basically there’s a bit of affirmative action stuff.

Which to be honest, I’m a bit squeemish about, since I’m more of an egalitarian than a feminist.

But then again, there probably aren’t that many women/lgbt people at the company anyways. So doubling it isn’t that big a deal.

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Omg that is so cruel!

Will someone think of the poor CEOS! I heard he got a tummyache on the Epistein express with no tums to soothe him ;W;

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Can someone explain me… what’s happening in a more simplified way

Pretty much Bobby Kotick (CEO) took a pay cut, and they intend to better the workplace; though, I kind of doubt the later will actually improve, but I am open to being proven wrong.

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You should read the rest - it’s actually down to 62,000 which is the minimum allowed for that type of work.

He’s essentially admitting failure.

The rest of it is not surprising at all - this always happens when a company has a crisis - they fire some people then put in new policies.

This move from the CEO is surprising though.

Yes affirmative action is inherently unfair but it’s really the only solution we have for these problems that have crystallized over decades.

Blizzard has an 80:20 male-female ratio. This is really asking for trouble. When I heard this, I did think it’s one of the first things that needs to change if the culture is going to change.

Let’s see.

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