Bobby Kotick Bio
Robert A. Kotick (born 1963), widely known as Bobby Kotick, is an American businessman best known for leading Activision and, after engineering a merger with Vivendi Games, serving as the inaugural chief executive officer of Activision Blizzard. He began his entrepreneurial career in 1983 while a student at the University of Michigan by founding a software company with friend Howard Marks, later acquiring a controlling stake in Activision and becoming its chief executive officer in 1991. Over more than three decades at the helm, Kotick guided the company through studio acquisitions, expansion into mobile and esports, and a high-profile merger that formed Activision Blizzard in 2008. He retired from Activision Blizzard in December 2023 after the company was acquired by Microsoft.
Kotick also served on several corporate and nonprofit boards, including The Coca-Cola Company and Yahoo, and founded the Call of Duty Endowment, a nonprofit focused on veteran employment. He currently resides in Beverly Hills, California.
Early Life and Background
Robert A. Kotick was born in 1963 in the United States and grew up in Roslyn, New York, on Long Island. He was raised in a Jewish family and had his bar mitzvah at age 14. Kotick developed an early interest in business, designing his own business cards in junior high school and, as a teenager, running an enterprise that rented Manhattan clubs on off nights.
He studied art history at the University of Michigan in the early 1980s. While there, his entrepreneurial drive led him to launch software ventures that would shape the rest of his career. Although he began his college years as a student, his passion for technology and startups soon pulled him toward full-time business work.
Path to Chief Executive Officer
While Kotick was still a student in 1983 at the University of Michigan, he co-founded a software company called Arktronics with his friend and roommate Howard Marks out of their dorm room. Together they developed a graphical user interface-based integrated software package called Jane for the Apple II. During his second year, Kotick persuaded casino executive Steve Wynn to invest $300,000 in their startup, and Steve Jobs met with Kotick and convinced him to drop out of college to focus on the business.
In 1987, Kotick attempted to acquire Commodore International, hoping to remove the keyboard and disk drive from the Amiga 500 and turn it into a video game system, but he was unsuccessful in persuading Chairman Irving Gould to sell control of the company. In June 1990, Kotick became chief executive officer of Leisure Concepts, Nintendo’s third-party licensing agent. By December 1990, he had sold his stake in Leisure Concepts and, with business partner Brian Kelly, purchased a 25 percent stake in the nearly bankrupt Mediagenic, the company then known as Activision. In February 1991, Kotick changed the name back to Activision, restructured the company, and refocused it on making and marketing video games, becoming chief executive officer that same month.
Bobby Kotick Career
Early Career (1983–1991)
Kotick’s first significant venture, Arktronics, established him as a young entrepreneur willing to take risks in the early personal computer era. His early product, Jane for the Apple II, demonstrated an interest in consumer-friendly software design. The investment from Steve Wynn and advice from Steve Jobs gave Kotick both capital and confidence to leave the University of Michigan without a degree and pursue software development full time.
Through roles at Leisure Concepts and his eventual acquisition of a stake in Mediagenic, Kotick honed the turnaround and management skills that would define his career. The hostile takeover-style acquisition of a controlling position in Mediagenic, followed by a complete restructuring, marked his first major corporate victory and the launch of a 32-year run as one of the most consequential executives in the video game industry.
Activision Era (1991–2008)
At Activision, Kotick set out to build an institutional quality, well-managed company with a focus on the independent developer. Between 1997 and 2003, Activision acquired nine development studios and released its first major hit game in 1995. Kotick also founded International Consumer Technologies, which in 1995 became a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision. Under his leadership, the company became a major publisher of franchises including Call of Duty.
In November 2006, Kotick entered into discussions with French media conglomerate Vivendi, which through its Vivendi Games subsidiary owned Blizzard Entertainment and Sierra Entertainment. He engineered a merger that created a new company, Activision Blizzard. Shareholders of Activision Blizzard approved Kotick as chief executive officer of the combined company in 2008. He later stated that he aimed to build on Blizzard’s successes, including expanding into Asia.
Activision Blizzard Era (2008–2023)
Kotick expanded Activision Blizzard’s mobile presence in 2016 when the company acquired King, the creator of Candy Crush. That same year, he also acquired the professional esports organization Major League Gaming and announced the creation of Activision Blizzard’s professional Overwatch League. By June 2017, Fortune reported that Kotick had become the longest-serving head of any publicly traded technology company. Under his leadership, Activision Blizzard was named one of Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Places to Work from 2015 to 2018. In November 2022, the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II broke record sales for the franchise, crossing the $1 billion mark in ten days.
In January 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, making it the largest video game company acquisition in history. The acquisition was completed in 2023, and Kotick remained with Activision Blizzard to assist with the transition before retiring from the company on December 29, 2023.
Notable Events and Milestones
In 2009, Kotick co-founded the Call of Duty Endowment, a nonprofit benefit corporation that helps soldiers transition to civilian careers by funding nonprofit organizations, and he retained his position on its board as of 2022. In 2011, he made a cameo appearance in the film Moneyball as Oakland Athletics co-owner Stephen Schott. In 2017, Fortune noted that he had become the longest-serving head of any publicly traded technology company.
Bobby Kotick Career Wins
Across more than three decades leading Activision and Activision Blizzard, Robert A. Kotick is credited with reshaping a struggling software publisher into one of the world’s most valuable video game companies. His major wins include the hostile takeover and restructuring of Mediagenic into Activision in 1991, the 2008 merger with Vivendi Games that created Activision Blizzard, the 2016 acquisition of King and the launch of the Overwatch League, and the record-setting release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II in 2022.
Career Highlights
Kotick became chief executive officer of Activision in February 1991 and held the same role at Activision Blizzard from 2008 until December 29, 2023, a tenure of more than 32 years. His first major franchise win came in 1995 with Activision’s first hit game, followed by the acquisition of nine development studios between 1997 and 2003. His most recent corporate milestone was the completion of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023.
Other Wins and Achievements
Kotick served on the board of Yahoo from 2003 to 2008 and on the board of The Coca-Cola Company from 2012 to 2022. He also serves on the boards of the Center for Early Education and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Fortune Magazine named Activision Blizzard one of the 100 Best Places to Work from 2015 to 2018.
Bobby Kotick Family
Family Background and Personal Lineage
Robert A. Kotick was raised in a Jewish family in Roslyn, New York, on Long Island, and had his bar mitzvah at age 14. His entrepreneurial instincts emerged early, with business cards in junior high school and a club-rental business during high school, suggesting a family environment that encouraged initiative and self-reliance.
Personal Life
Bobby married Nina Spiegel, and the couple had three daughters: Grace, Emily, and Audrey. He and his wife divorced in late 2012. From 2016 to 2019, Kotick was in a relationship with Sheryl Sandberg, then chief operating officer of Meta. He resides in Beverly Hills, California, in a home filled with Abstract Expressionist art, and he has donated to University of Michigan sports programs. Kotick identifies as a libertarian and, in 2007 and 2008, donated to the National Republican Senatorial Committee before later endorsing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 United States presidential election.