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Notice about buying
Activision Blizzard company
Microsoft became one of the most high-profile events in the gaming industry. And many analysts immediately linked this deal with the unfolding scandal over discrimination and harassment in the department of Bobby Kotick.
Journalists analyzed
merger documentspublished by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the resulting picture seems to confirm some of the suspicions.
As we remember, the material
The Wall Street Journalwhich was directly associated with the unrest in the company of Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick,
released November 16. And on November 19, just three days after that, there was an initial conversation about the deal between Phil Spencer and Bobby Kotick: the head of Xbox spoke about “
redefining relations».
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella contacted Kotik on November 20 and confirmed that the company is interested in buying. Nadella offered to buy back Activision Blizzard shares at $80 each, but the price rose to $95 during negotiations.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kotick simultaneously made an offer to buy another four companies and one large businessman. Who exactly is unknown, but at least one of the companies offered to partially redeem the assets of Activision. But Microsoft pushed the negotiations so that the other participants did not have time to put forward their proposals.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Microsoft will have to pay Activision Blizzard between two and three billion dollars in fees if the deal is canceled by antitrust authorities. However, if the merger is rejected by Activision Blizzard shareholders, the company will have to pay a $2.27 billion fine to Microsoft.
Although Kotik
claims, that will not leave the company before the completion of the transaction, there are reasons to believe that he will not remain its head as part of Microsoft. But he won’t end up on the street anyway: for his four-plus million Activision Blizzard shares, he’ll earn over $410 million at $95 a share.
Kotick also has an additional “golden parachute”: if he has to leave at the request of Microsoft, he will receive compensation stipulated by the contract, more than $ 14 million. Hundreds of millions more will bring him stock options.
And side information: the Commission document confirms that the release
Call of Duty: Vanguard did not live up to expectations and did not bring revenues forecast for the fourth quarter of the financial year.