Activision CEO Kotick Threatened to Quit Over Buyout Role
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Activision Blizzard Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robert Kotick threatened to quit if directors didn’t allow him to lead a group that helped buy out most of Vivendi SA’s stake in the video-game maker for $8.2 billion, according to court papers.
Kotick demanded that Activision’s board back his plan to have the Santa Monica, California-based maker of video games such as “Call of Duty” buy back $5.83 billion in stock from Vivendi while an investment group led by the CEO would buy another $2.34 billion of Vivendi’s stake, a document filed by an Activision shareholder suing over the deal shows.