Bobby Kotick is exiting Activision Blizzard after being acquired by Xbox, and there’s even a date

The soap opera of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft and Xbox has come to an end after about twenty months of negotiations, litigation and all kinds of impediments by regulatory bodies. Questions remain in the air such as when will Robert A. Kotick, CEO of the company better known as Bobby Kotick, leave the company?

Bobby Kotick announces when he will leave Activision Blizzard permanently

Robert “Bobby” Kotick, the still current CEO of Activision Blizzard, has announced that he will continue to hold office until the end of 2023. As reported at the time, his termination is set for January 1, 2024. It was one of the conditions to close the purchase of the company by Microsoft and Xbox. The executive has reported this in a letter sent to all ABK employees and which we can read on the Microsoft website:

Using a quite peculiar vocabulary and way of presenting the facts, Kotick says how joining Microsoft will enable them to “deliver more fun, more jo, and more connection to more players than ever before.” He even says that Phil Spencer has asked him to stay on until the end of the year.

The most recent stage of Kotick’s mandate has been tainted by accusations of abuse and concealment, allegations of workplace abuse and sexual harassment in the company, and it got to the point that more than a thousand Activision Blizzard workers wanted Kotick out.

How long has Bobby Kotick been at Activision?

Bobby Kotick has been CEO of Activision Blizzard since July 9, 2008. When he leaves this position on January 1, 2024, just over fifteen years will have passed in which he will have held this position. But the thing is not so simple, because Activision Blizzard is the result of the merger of Activision with the French conglomerate Vivendi, who at the time owned Blizzard Entertainment and Sierra Entertainment.

Bobby Kotick joined Activision in December 1990. He and his partner Bryan Kelly each bought 25% of an almost bankrupt Activision, known at the time as Mediagenic. Following a complete restructuring of the company, which included renaming it Activision, Kotick became CEO of this company in February 1991. That is, if we add his journey since the company was simply Activision along with his Activision Blizzard phase, Kotick has been the CEO for about 32 years.