In what has been unfolding as an absolute train wreck of a scenario, the news keeps pouring in on the Activision Blizzard front with talks of more layoffs. The report comes from Bloomberg that Activision Blizzard plans on restructuring their operations, resulting in hundreds more being laid off. This comes after the company laid off 100 people in 2018, lost both CFOs on Activision and Blizzard’s side, and saw Blizzard co-founder and former owner Mike Morhaime step down and, then, later announced he was leaving the company entirely in April.
To add insult to injury, Bungie announced that their partnership with Activision was ending and that they were taking Destiny 2 with them. While Call of Duty is performing well (as it, generally, always does), the complaints about Destiny 2: Forsaken and World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth have really painted a picture of a company in trouble.
While the announcement of restructuring and layoffs is not official, it is being said that Activision plans to make the announcement on Tuesday, February 12.
Amongst all of this controversy, Activision Blizzard hired Dennis Durkin as their new Chief Financial Officer. As part of his signing bonus, the company awarded him $11.3 million of restricted stock tied to operating income and earnings-per-share targets. He also received a $3.75 million sign-0n bonus. This is on top of his $900,000 salary and a $1.35 million target bonus. The numbers were confirmed through a regulatory filing on Friday.
Paying one man that much money and then announcing layoffs isn’t exactly a good look for the company.
