Activision's Kotick signed incentive-based deal in 2012, spreads out compensation over five years
Activision-Blizzard CEO and president Bobby Kotick, increased his compensation "almost eightfold" to the tune of a whopping $64.9 million last year, according to an SEC filing broken down by Bloomberg.
The majority of this insane amount of wealth came via stock awards worth $55.9 million which will be stretched over five years.
Back in 2009, Kotick dropped another 1.68 million in Activision shares, brought in $17 million, and he grabbed $20 million from a three-day stock-sell over the release of Modern Warfare 2 which brought his 9-day profits to $37 million.
Kotick, 50, earned $8.33 million in total compensation last year, and this puts him at number two among public US company CEOs for 2012 - once the compensation package is figured in as $8 million is nothing compared to other US CEOs, according to a list compiled by CNN Money.
With Bloomberg factoring in the five-year compensation benefit, this would put Kotick behind Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison.
Ellison earned $96.2 million in wages, options and other extra nuggets to add to his pile of gold. I wonder if Ellison has a dragon guarding his hoard.
Also, should Kotick meet Activision's "highest performance targets," he will receive another $16 million.
“We don’t like any element of this pay package,” Nell Minow, a corporate-governance consultant and frequent critic of executive pay told Bloomberg. “In the past we have expressed concern about this company and its compensation practices.”
Kotick’s base salary and incentive packages are one of the highest in the games sector, Minow added.
Bloomberg gleaned this information from an SEC filing yesterday, in which Activision noted Kotick had exceeded goals on operating income and ticked all the boxes on cash flow etc.
"The bulk of the increase for Kotick came in stock awards valued at $55.9 million, based on regulatory reporting rules, that were tied to a new employment agreement signed in March 2012, according to a filing yesterday by the video-game software company," said Bloomberg. "While vesting stretches over five years, the awards are reported in the year of the grant.
"Kotick, 50, received $8.33 million in total compensation last year, filings show."
His base salary in 2012 was $2.01 million, and he earned a $2.5 million bonus and other pay of $4.52 million plus the stock award noted above.
Activision currently has a market value of $16.5 billion, and last posted net income of $1.15 billion.
The firm will report its Q1 FY2013 earnings on May 8, and as noted above, Kotick's new compensation package will be included in the figures.