Bobby Kotick ready to walk away with $390 million from Activision

Bobby Kotick, the chief executive officer of Activision Blizzard, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Bobby Kotick, the Chief Executive Officer of Reuters, has gone from defending his handling of sexual harassment and discrimination claims at the video game maker to preparing to walk away with a windfall of $390 million.

The deal to sell Activision to Microsoft Corp for $68.7 billion is expected to be finalized on Tuesday, but the vast majority of Activision shares he owns will come from the 3.95 million Activision shares he owns, according to regulatory filings.

He won't have any unvested equities, which is uncommon for public company CEOs, which will make him miss out on a change of control payment.

Kotick plans to step down once the deal with Microsoft closes, which is expected to be done in June 2023, a person familiar with the matter said. If he had stayed as Activision's CEO, he would have reported to Microsoft's gaming chief Phil Spencer, a far cry from running a standalone company.

Kotick, who has been running Activision since 1991 and turned it into one of the world's biggest videogame giants, said in an interview on CNBC on Tuesday that the company had worked through allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination that led to more than 20 employees being fired and 20 more people facing other forms of disciplinary action last year.

A Kotick and Activision spokesman didn't want to say anything.

Activision shareholders only approved Kotick's $155 million pay package last year after investors criticized the company for giving him one of the highest compensation packages in the corporate world.

Activision reduced Kotick's base salary and cash bonus by 50% and made 95% of his total compensation subject to performance.

Activision also did away with a transformation transaction that would have given Kotick a special payout whose value would be determined in the future, should the company be sold.

In October, in light of the sexual harassment and discrimination charges against the company, Kotick dropped his salary to $62,500, the minimum allowed under California law and stopped receiving any bonuses or equities, vowing to improve the company culture.