Over 1,700 Activision Blizzard employees back petition to replace CEO

Over the course of this week, calls for the resignation of Activision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, have grown louder. Following on from reports of Kotick's handling of workplace harassment issues, over 1,700 employees have signed a petition calling on the board to choose a new CEO. 

The latest petition states that employees “no longer have confidence in the leadership of Bobby Kotick” as CEO, following on from reports “about his behaviours and practices”. This is referring to a recent WSJ report, which claimed that Kotick stepped in to protect executives accused of harassment . So far, 1,745 Activision Blizzard employees have signed the petition, with those employees filling a range of positions across the company, ranging from senior design and engineering roles, to QA testers and artists.

Pressure has mounted on Activision Blizzard in other areas too, with PlayStation's Jim Ryan and Xbox's Phil Spencer both speaking out on the situation.

So far, the board of directors has stuck by Kotick and has not indicated any plans to replace him, nor has Kotick said that he will resign. However, with share prices continuing to slide and hitting a six month low this week, the company will need to respond.

KitGuru Says: Activision Blizzard has an estimated 9,500 employees so there are still a lot that have not yet signed the petition for one reason or another. Still, the number of employees that have signed is too great to ignore.  

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