Activision’s New Boss is Getting a Ridiculous Amount of Money
One of gaming's biggest companies is turning a former Google executive into a multi-millionaire. | Source: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File
- Activision has named a new president and chief operating officer.
- Daniel Alegre, who spent 16 years at Google, will begin working at the video game publisher in April.
- Alegre will be getting a huge amount of money in the role, just months after Activision was criticized for laying off employees while giving bosses large bonuses.
Activision has named Daniel Alegre its new president and COO. Alegre spent 16 years at Google where he helped to create Google Latin America and led the companies global retail, shopping, and payments division.
Google and Activision have been working closely together in the last few months and it is not surprising to know that Activision thinks highly of Google’s talent. Activision has a deal to stream Overwatch League and Call of Duty League on YouTube, which is rumored to have earned the publisher $160 million .
Microtransaction Lottery
The company’s decision to hire Alegre also teases some of its major plans. Last year, Activision made $4.203 billion from microtransactions in its games and Alegre could potentially help to grow that number. In its press release announcing Alegre’s role, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick also confirmed that he would be helping the company make important new hires.
For his work, Alegre will be getting paid a huge amount of money. A filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Alegre will make $1.35 million a year and could get “annual discretionary bonuses” that are 100% of that $1.35 million.
He has also been paid $2.5 million for joining the company, stock options of $5 million and he could get another 100% for growing Activision’s earnings per share 20% more than expected.
The confirmation of Alegre’s large pay comes not long after Activision was criticized for giving its other bosses big bonuses. In February 2019, Activision fired nearly 800 people after announcing that it had made more money in 2018 than any other year.
In February 2019, it was also revealed that Activision had paid its new chief financial officer Dennis Durkin $15 million . It seems that the criticism it was hit with then did nothing to change the company’s plans for keeping its revenue at the top.
