Robert Kotick

Chairman and CEO
Activision

Since 1991, Bobby Kotick has been running Activision, in which he bought a controlling interest when it was an insolvent video-game company in 1990. The witty Mr. Kotick has since built the company into one of the industry's largest, with net revenues of approximately $2.7 billion. That is due to some of its well-known franchises, especially its hugely popular Guitar Hero, as well as Call of Duty, Spider-Man, Shrek and the Tony Hawk series. More importantly, Activision turbocharged itself when it merged this past year with Vivendi Games, which includes Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, one the most popular multi-player games. He is also on the board of Yahoo, which we will ask him about even if he won't comment. In addition, Mr. Kotick is a major art patron, serving as vice chairman of the board and chairman of the Committee of Trustees at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Posts With Bobby Kotick

Activision’s Call of Duty Hits $1 Billion in Sales in 15 Days

It took one day to hit $500 million in sales, and another two weeks to double that.

Activision’s Call of Duty Sales Hit $500 Million on Day One

That’s more than double the $220 million in sales that Halo 4 achieved last week.
Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops II featuring Robert Downey Jr.

Activision’s New High Score Includes Record Revenue and Profit in Q3

As expected, Activision blew expectations out of the water in the third quarter.

News Byte

Activision Blizzard CEO Kotick Joins Coca-Cola Board

Coca-Cola announced today it had appointed Bobby Kotick, CEO of videogame publisher Activision Blizzard, to its board. Kotick, 48, has previous boardroom experience, having served as a Yahoo director from 2003 to 2008. “Bobby brings an entrepreneurial mindset and a high level of financial literacy and digital knowledge to our company,” said Coke Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent.

Activision CEO Hirshberg Says His Call of Duty Is to Take Creative Risks

Activision, as the maker of first-person shooter Call of Duty, took a risk bringing a children’s game to market. But Skylanders: Spryo’s Adventure has been totally worth it.

Call of Duty Grosses More Than $775 Million in Five Days to Destroy All Records

Activision’s latest Call of Duty title has shattered all previous entertainment records, grossing more than $775 million in its first five days of sales.

Exclusive: Myspace to Be Sold to Specific Media for $35 Million

Closing another chapter on one of the Internet’s most iconic properties, Myspace has been sold to to Specific Media, an advertising network, for $35 million. Sources close to the situation said the deal is being completed today, although it has not been officially signed. Myspace’s owner, News Corp., will hold on to a very small […]

Exclusive: Myspace Sale Nearing End Today With Low $30M Price and Buyer You Never Heard Of

Have you ever heard of Specific Media? What about Golden Gate Capital? One of them is likely to be the new owner of Myspace by Thursday, as the deal to sell the distressed social networking icon goes down to the wire for a $20 million to $30 million price and massive layoffs.

Yes, That’s Activision’s Kotick in “Moneyball” Movie Trailer

In a surprise cameo, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has gone Hollywood, appearing in a new trailer for the movie, “Moneyball.” Based on the excellent Michael Lewis book about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its quirky manager Billy Beane, Kotick is playing its owner.

Is There a Myspace Mafia, Too? Because Leaving Seems to Have Paid Off for Many Ex-Execs.

When the selling of Myspace winds down in the next week or so, it’ll probably attract a spate of comments about what a failure the whole social networking enterprise turned out to be. That is, unless you think of the mob of former execs who have worked at the company over time, many of whom have moved on to some more golden opportunities after leaving Myspace.