The public petition started by the group of employees at Activision Blizzard known as ABetterABK to oust Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick has passed 20,000 signatures as of November 20, 2021. The petition was started on November 18.
“Bobby Kotick has proved that he does not care about his employees and that he is not fit to be the CEO of Activision Blizzard”, the petition states. “It is absolutely horrendous that someone with such power looks past all the cries of help. This petition will show that he has had his time as CEO and he clearly cannot do it well. He needs to be removed”.
This comes in the wake of an employee petition which passed 1,500 signatures within hours of being started on November 18. The petition was signed by approximately 15% of employees at Activision Blizzard across all of its various departments.
The employee petition calls for Bobby Kotick to “remove himself as CEO of Activision Blizzard”, asking that “shareholders be allowed to select the new CEO without the input of Bobby who we are aware owns a substantial portion of the voting rights of the shareholders”.
Bobby Kotick has been coming under fire from all sides ever since it was revealed on November 16 that he knew about sexual harassment in the workplace for years without taking action to stop the abuse. There have also been reports that he actually encouraged this behaviour. Something like 100 employees walked out in protest after the news broke. Shareholders joined the chorus of people calling for his removal shortly afterwards.
The future is uncertain for Bobby Kotick. The board of directors at Activision Blizzard remains behind him, but many business partners including Microsoft and Sony are reconsidering their ties to the company in light of his leadership.
The lawsuit by the state of California concerning the “frat boy workplace culture” at Activision Blizzard remains in the courts.