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Machiavellian on 04 October 2023
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Ryuu96 said:
Machiavellian said:

There is not going to be any termination because how you guys see Bobby is not how corporate companies like MS see Bobby.  The only way Bobby is going anywhere is if he decides its his time to retire.  I think you guys corporate experience is based on metrics that has Absolut Ly nothing to do with how the market works or how a CEO is viewed.  Activision has been able to maintain their level of success for a long time and even if you may have negative views on Bobby in general, the fact that he has navigated this success for a long time means that he had to make some decisions that not only kept the lights on but also kept ABK as one of the leading publishers in the business.

None of us even know the deal between MS and ABK nor how ABK will be structured when they become a part of MS.  The only reason why I believe Bobby will retire is because this is a huge payday for him since he owns as a personal employee the most stock in the company.  This is a retirement deal and thus he will move on but termination from MS is definitely not what is going to happen.  Bobby will leave when he wants to leave and if he wants to stay he would have already negotiated that within the sale.  This fantasy that Phil is going to terminate Bobby is pure fiction, all of this has already been decided between the 2 companies.  The only way this deal happens is because of Bobby and the only way this deal goes down and how ABK will be structured under MS is based on Bobby as well.  Lets not kid ourselves and believe that Bobby is just going to be sitting there not knowing how everything that happens transpire from after the sale.  All of this has already been determined.

I just said that they'll likely wait until his contract expires in April 2024 because it will be less costly than terminating him, Lol.

The reason I think he will be leaving is multiple.

  1. I don't believe someone like Bobby who has been his own boss for so many years now, will actually like suddenly not being the boss and having to answer to someone else, that is Phil Spencer now, Bobby no longer will be making the decisions, Phil will. It's like Phil said when someone asked him about Bobby's dislike of Game Pass and his belief that titles shouldn't launch into it, Phil's response was simply Bobby isn't making the decisions anymore, I am. I think Bobby is the sort of arrogant, self centred twat who will hate having to answer to someone else and lose his power because that is what is happening here, once the acquisition closes, Bobby will lose power.
  2. He's going to make hundreds of millions from this deal, he can comfortably retire for the rest of his life. Remember it was Activision-Blizzard (Bobby Kotick himself) who sought out an acquisition after the mess that happened. I'm fairly confident that Bobby just wants to wash his hands of the whole thing now and semi-retire, he is 60 years old.
  3. The CEO position is null and void once the acquisition closes, there is no CEO, that role will be dissolved, just like it was dissolved in Zenimax, just like it was dissolved in all their other acquisitions. The only CEOs in Microsoft are Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Phil Spencer (Microsoft Gaming) and Ryan Roslansky (Linkedin CEO) and that's cause Linkedin is limited integration into Microsoft but Activision-Blizzard will be under Microsoft Gaming. Therefore even more degradation of Bobby's power.
  4. You tell me what sense it makes in having Rob Kostich (President of Activision) and Mike Ybarra (President of Blizzard) report to Bobby Kotick who reports to Phil Spencer who now makes all of the decisions for Activision-Blizzard instead of just having Rob Kostich and Mike Ybarra report directly to Phil. Bobby becomes nothing more than an overpaid middle-man. Bobby Kotick only needs to stay for the transition and then he can go, unless you believe that Rob Kostich and Mike Ybarra who have been running Activision and Blizzard now for years, can't run Activision and Blizzard, then we have bigger problems.
  5. Bobby Kotick isn't the dude managing the day to day operations, Kostich and Ybarra are. Bobby is just the dude making the business decisions but the business decisions under Xbox are going to be vastly different now because of Game Pass, something which Bobby doesn't agree with. Bobby's direction of business will NOT align with Xbox's direction of business. That doesn't mean one is wrong, it just means they have two different directions.
  6. Bobby is a walking PR disaster waiting to happen.
  7. We have multiple reputable journalists who say Bobby will leave post-acquisition closure, I'm not talking random gaming journalists or some dudes on 4Chan but actual reputable business organisations who are very clued into the stock market and have very strong business related sources. I can't remember which it was but I think it was Bloomberg who said Bobby is leaving.

We do know the deal, Activision-Blizzard is coming under Microsoft Gaming and will report directly to Phil Spencer...We've already been told that.

We both agree that he is leaving and I didn't say Microsoft will terminate him early, I said they'll likely wait for his contract to expire, I don't believe it was a coincidence that he specifically pointed out that his contract only lasts until April 2024 and he will stay as long as Microsoft needs him for the transitional process.

Ryuu, we only know the surface of the deal.  Just know that ABK will be part of MS gaming is about all we know but if you believe merging a company as big as ABK is just that simple you are getting ahead of yourself.  There is a lot that goes into the acquisition and details we will never know.  If Bobby wanted to he could pretty much negotiate whatever position he wants and also who he reports to.  

The main point I am stating is that your use of the term Termination is vastly wrong.  Bobby will leave as I stated because its time for him to retire and he saw this huge money grabbing opportunity to do so because MS was thirsty.  Your statements make it appear as if Bobby is just going to walk into the office one day and bam, Phil is going to tell him his time is up.  That is not going to happen.  Instead as I stated, Bobby has already negotiated his retirement and he will leave when he feel like it.  He isn't going to be terminated.  He will be making a lot of decisions before and after the sale and if he so chooses, he can stay on doing whatever he has negotiated until he is ready to go.

As for being a PR disaster, I actually disagree with this.  PR stuff on the level that he has faced is pretty much small potatoes.  One thing is a constant, especially in high level C positions, if you pretty much just keep your mouth shut, gamers have a pretty short attention span and move on to something else.  None of that stuff actually going to really mean anything.

As for Bobby as CEO not making the decisions that has put the company where its at.  I believe you are letting your bias cloud your vision.  There are no decisions that get done without the CEO approval.  All C level execs report to Bobby and for a company that is not as diversified as MS, that means he does make and approve just about everything that goes on in the company.  Having sat through multiple C level exec meetings, all projects, direction of the company and day to day business deals, acquisitions you name it are discussed and approved or denied by the CEO.  Like I said, just because you do not like the guy do not get it twisted that he runs the company.  He is not managing the grunt level details but all major decisions and directions goes pass him before getting done.