Activision’s CEO Made $38.3 Million Last Year, 306 Times The Median Activision Employee

Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick’s compensation for 2017 was $US28,698,375 ($38,273,588), according to filings the video game publisher submitted earlier this week to the US Security and Exchanges Commission. Don’t be too jealous, though – that’s actually a pay cut. But it’s still over 300 times what the median Activision employee made.



Bobby Kotick in 2016 Photo: Mike Windle (Getty Images)

Kotick, who has long been one of the most highly paid CEOs in America, made $US33,065,560 ($44,097,884) in 2016, per SEC filings. So last year’s pay – a combination of salary, equity and other miscellaneous compensation – was $US4.3 million ($5.7 million) less than what Kotick made two years ago.

Some of Activision-Blizzard’s biggest games include Call of Duty, Destiny, Overwatch, World of Warcraft and Hearthstone. The publisher also owns King, the company behind Candy Crush.

According to the same SEC filing, the median Activision employee made $US93,660 ($124,861) last year. “Based on the foregoing, our estimate of the CEO-to-median employee pay ratio is 306:1,” reads the filing.

“Due to the wide variety of job functions within our company, across numerous global jurisdictions, the compensation paid to our employees differs greatly between departments, experience levels, and locations. We believe that our employees are fairly compensated and appropriately incentivized.”