Today, I want to update you on some initial progress and important, additional steps we are taking to advance our commitment with greater impact, transparency, and urgency.įirst, I want to offer my sincere gratitude for your continued focus and dedication to our players – and to each other. The separate pledge to cut his own pay is a drastic follow up to the 50% cut of his salary and bonus in April, now capping him at the California state minimum for overtime exempt employees, which dictates that executive level employees be paid a monthly minimum salary of at least twice the local minimum wage, set to $15.00 per hour in the city of Santa Monica, bringing him to a total of $62,500 per year - which includes waiving all bonuses and equity until the company's commitments are achieved.Ī few weeks ago, I reiterated our commitment to become the most welcoming, inclusive company in our industry.
While the commitments outlined above don't completely fulfill those employee demands, such as only waiving arbitration in specific cases rather than ending it altogether, they are a gigantic step in the right direction, and we will almost certainly hear more in the upcoming third quarter investor earnings conference call this coming Tuesday on November 2nd. The commitments issued today also closely mirror four employee demands made during their walkout protest last July, which Francis Townsend tacitly acknowledged during an interview with the Financial Times last week, stating that more changes were coming and Kotick had given her a "blank check" to make changes within the company.
The letter echoes his strongly worded statement made during the last quarterly investor earnings call, which called for Activision Blizzard to become a company which sets an example within the industry, and follow a series of steps taken to implement workplace reform so far.
To waive mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment and discrimination claims.To increase the percentage of women and non-binary people in the workforce by 50%, from approximately 23% to 33% of the company within 5 years, and invest $250 million over 10 years to accelerate opportunities for diverse talent.