Activision vs EA vs Take Two: CEO Earnings Check
Who gets the big bucks - and why does Take Two's Feder only earn one dollar?
While Activision CEO, Robert - Bobby - Kotick earns somewhere in the region of $15million, Take Two Interactive's CEO Ben Feder is paid... a single US dollar directly by the GTA publisher.
Following his statement during a recent analyst call that, if it was up to him, he'd charge more for Activision's games, CEO Robert - Bobby - Kotick has come in for quite some abuse. This has included an online petition aimed at demanding that Activision reduces the price of Modern Warfare 2 in the UK and the details of personal earnings being mulled over.
These details come via profiles published by Forbes. Mr Kotick is revealed to have been 'compensated' to the tune of $14,950,102 in 2008.
This amount of compensation has made many people fume from various orifices. But what of other gaming CEOs? We had a look.
Electronic Arts CE0: John Riccitiello. His earnings from EA - in this case in 2009: $6,365,823 plus stock options that he liquidated in 2009 of $7,094,316 brings a total of $13,460,139.
Take 2 Interactive's CEO, Ben Feder's 2008 earnings: $7,051. This comes from $1 in salary and $7,050 in 'other compensation'.
Hold on! $1 in salary? We double checked with another source, and yes, it's a dollar. Bear in mind that Feder also works for ZelnickMedia, a company that provides management services to T2. ZelnickMedia (headed by T2 chairman, Strauss Zelnick) then receives stock options. At the most recent count ZelnickMedia has earned 3.5 million shares. Today's price on T2 is $9.76. So, Feder has earned a split of potentially $34,265,000.
Imagine what he would have been on with the EA offer of nearly $26?
In conclusion then, if you're head of a large company, you're going to earn a lot of money.
Following his statement during a recent analyst call that, if it was up to him, he'd charge more for Activision's games, CEO Robert - Bobby - Kotick has come in for quite some abuse. This has included an online petition aimed at demanding that Activision reduces the price of Modern Warfare 2 in the UK and the details of personal earnings being mulled over.
These details come via profiles published by Forbes. Mr Kotick is revealed to have been 'compensated' to the tune of $14,950,102 in 2008.
This amount of compensation has made many people fume from various orifices. But what of other gaming CEOs? We had a look.
Electronic Arts CE0: John Riccitiello. His earnings from EA - in this case in 2009: $6,365,823 plus stock options that he liquidated in 2009 of $7,094,316 brings a total of $13,460,139.
Take 2 Interactive's CEO, Ben Feder's 2008 earnings: $7,051. This comes from $1 in salary and $7,050 in 'other compensation'.
Hold on! $1 in salary? We double checked with another source, and yes, it's a dollar. Bear in mind that Feder also works for ZelnickMedia, a company that provides management services to T2. ZelnickMedia (headed by T2 chairman, Strauss Zelnick) then receives stock options. At the most recent count ZelnickMedia has earned 3.5 million shares. Today's price on T2 is $9.76. So, Feder has earned a split of potentially $34,265,000.
Imagine what he would have been on with the EA offer of nearly $26?
In conclusion then, if you're head of a large company, you're going to earn a lot of money.
Companies:
Activision Blizzard Electronic Arts Take 2
People: Ben Feder Bobby Kotick John Riccitiello
People: Ben Feder Bobby Kotick John Riccitiello
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Comments
deleted 11 Aug 2009 09:02
1/5
all this compensation, what happened to the days of it being about the games?, those wages could easily fund 2-3 developments esp in Ben Feders Case.
DrkStr 11 Aug 2009 12:26
2/5
haritori wrote:
all this compensation, what happened to the days of it being about the games?, those wages could easily fund 2-3 developments esp in Ben Feders Case.
That's what happens when your industry "grows up" to have accountants and managers running the show.
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Sl 11 Aug 2009 14:21
3/5
This is misleading. So Feder "potentially" gets 100% of the management fee? What about Strauss Zelnick and the rest of the executive management team? They get nothing? Come on, Feder is going to get far less than what you hypothesize under even the most rosy scenario. Use some common sense!
tommy 11 Aug 2009 21:40
4/5
Totally agree. TTWO is a huge turnaround project for ZelnickMedia and while I am sure Feder will get well compensated if they are successful in righting the ship (or gaining an exit), he is not seeing anywhere near this amount. In fact, he may make as little as $1 million.
As to ERTS, based on what the share price has done since he took over from Probst, Riccitiello is grossly overcompensated.
And Kotick remains an asshole with a poorly run organization that just happens to have great IP that translates into success in spite of their best efforts to screw it up. Based on what I have seen, that company is going south eventually.
As to ERTS, based on what the share price has done since he took over from Probst, Riccitiello is grossly overcompensated.
And Kotick remains an asshole with a poorly run organization that just happens to have great IP that translates into success in spite of their best efforts to screw it up. Based on what I have seen, that company is going south eventually.
TimSpong 12 Aug 2009 15:46
5/5
Sl wrote:
This is misleading. So Feder "potentially" gets 100% of the management fee? What about Strauss Zelnick and the rest of the executive management team? They get nothing? Come on, Feder is going to get far less than what you hypothesize under even the most rosy scenario. Use some common sense!
Eh? I make a habit of owning up to errors. But what we wrote was, "So, Feder has earned a split of potentially $34,265,000."
Cheers
Tim