Now that Activision Blizzard has its deal with its CEO with Bobby Kotick, which will keep him under contract through 2023, the company has also completed an advisory vote over the exec's 2020 compensation. However, that particular vote appears to have been over the objections of some of the World of Warcraft and Call of Duty developer's investors.

Over the last few weeks, Activision Blizzard shareholders have been dealing with and preparing for the final votes in regards to Kotick. The vote in regards to Kotick's 2020 compensation was originally scheduled for  June 14, but the company adjourned the vote until June 21 so that some shareholders could review details including the firm's public filings.

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The slight delay of this vote regarding Kotick did eventually lead to acceptance to the say-on-pay agreement, even if some of those involved announced they weren't happy with the terms. The final tally saw the CEO win the day, though with just a 54 percent majority. One group of the dissenting shareholders, led by independent investment firm CtW raised concerns about several different parts of the final terms. In particular, that group's director of executive compensation research,  Michael Varner voiced concerns over Kotick because he said the group felt Activision Blizzard hadn't adequately dealt with problems that arose in recent years.

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Proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS) had also recommended against voting in the affirmative both because Kotick's contract only ran through 2023 and because that firm considered his pay "outsized." ISS said there wasn't time to adjust Kotik's pay if something went wrong or he didn't live up to expectations. In response, Activision Blizzard said that the company's stock performance had generated substantial shareholder returns over the last four years.

Reuters reported that this vote on Kotick stood out because when investors usually take this kind of vote, the margin isn't nearly as slim. Other companies that have similarly close votes tend to need to do more in order to make the dissenting voters feel more confident about the direction of the company.

For his part, Varner led the charge against this particular vote in regards to Kotick because he said Activision Blizzard is going to have to "make further changes" due to the 46 percent of investors who were against the agreement. Varner added that the company would not be able to "rest on its laurels" and think that the changes it made so far would be enough to make everyone feel good about the issues at the center of the disagreement.

 

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Source: Reuters