author: Konrad Serafinski
Activision and EA Chairmen Among Most Overpaid CEOs of 2019
Activision Blizzard's Bobby Kotick and Electronic Arts' Andrew Wilson are on the list of 100 most overpaid CEOs of 2019. The list was prepared and published by the As You Sow website.
As You Sow published a report on the 100 most overpaid CEOs of U.S. companies in 2019. Among them were the CEOs of The Walt Disney Company, Discovery, Netflix and McDonald's, among others. The list also includes CEOs of two major digital entertainment companies. Robert A. Kotick (widely known as Bobby Kotick) is the chairman of Activision Blizzard. At the bottom of the infamous list (98th place) we will find Andrew Wilson, the CEO of Electronic Arts.
This is the fifth list of this kind created by As You Sow company. The organization uses an interesting methodology in its research. In short: the company examines factors such as the earnings of a particular boss, the votes for and against such earnings, and uses these factors to calculate how overpaid is the CEO. What is interesting, we can also find the ratio of the salary of a CEO to the average salary of an employee.
The head of Activision Blizzard earns more than $28 million a year, while the CEO of Electronic Arts - more than $35 million. In the case of Bobby Kotick, the ratio of his earnings to the average salary of an employee reaches 306:1. A slightly higher ratio can be found in the case of Andrew Wilson - 371:1. Compared to other CEO, these are not impressive results at all. For example: W. Nicholas Howley, the CEO of TransDigm Group, has a ratio of 1306:1.
Both men are not the most liked characters in the industry. The same applies to the companies they run. Some time ago Activision Blizzard laid off about 800 people, mainly from the departments responsible for publishing and e-sport. Such events could not go unnoticed. A few days later, members Game Workers Unite demanded the resignation of Bobby Kotick. We will probably soon see if these actions will lead to tangible results.
The air around Electronic Arts is not smelling of flowers either. After the loot box affair in FIFA Ultimate Team and Battlefront II news broke out that the game set in Star Wars universe, which was being developed by EA Vancouver, had been canceled. This, in turn, met with negative reactions not only from Disney fans but also from Disney's collaborators. The author of the script for the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story accused EA of catastrophic management of the Star Wars license and demanded that the company give it to someone more competent.
Do you think that fans' protests and such lists have a chance to contribute to changes in managerial positions in large gaming companies?