Former Chief Executive Officer, Activision Blizzard
Search every verified Robert Kotick interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a July 2023 interview, Kotick discussed the pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, noting that 98% of shareholders approved the transaction and describing it as a "great deal." He stated that the company extracted "significant additional value" through a short extension, a dividend, and a termination fee he characterized as one of the largest in history. Kotick expressed personal concerns about the economy, citing interest rate increases and a deficit substantially greater than GDP, and said he did not believe any business is recession-proof. He also identified Chinese companies like Tencent, ByteDance, and Alibaba, along with Nintendo, Sony, and Netflix, as major competitors in the video game industry. Earlier, in 2016, Kotick described the acquisition of King Digital, the maker of "Candy Crush Saga," as an opportunity to enter the fastest-growing mobile game market and to attract a female audience, noting that 60% of King's audience was female. In 2010, he stated that over 60% of Activision Blizzard's profits came from online-related games and described Facebook as a "great platform for gaming" that could grow to be significant over five years, though he noted it was then too small to influence the company's operating profit. He also said the company was "platform agnostic," aiming to make its games playable on any device with a display and microprocessor.
“I think one of the things that we have to start to come to terms with is you can't have successive years of a trillion and a half and $2 trillion dollars of deficits, a debt at 37.5 trillion with a trillion dollars a year of interest and not address spending. And it's not just federal spending. It's going to be municip...”
“We need to do a better job of making sure that we're not actually putting a greater tax burden on the on the US. I don't know that it's sustainable, but we have to start addressing spending. But neither one of the political parties seems to have a huge appetite for for really going after spending.”
“Medicaid and Medicare in the last four years are up 45 to 50%. That's just not sustainable. And then you look at the things that nobody wants to talk about. You know, K through 12 US expenditures are something in the neighborhood of a trillion dollars. But we're now at a place where kids are graduating at 30% of their...”
“If you were a creditor in that bankruptcy and you would have held the stock of that company up until the acquisition a couple years ago, it would have been the greatest return of any investment in the history of the world.”
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett presides over the 2025 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. CNBC's Michael Santoli and Becky Quick are joined by Activision founder Bobby Kotick to discuss his takeaways.
Bobby Kotick built a $69 billion empire from scratch—and the story is even crazier than it sounds. In this episode of The Big Shot, we sit down with gaming’s ultimate entrepreneur. Bobby takes us from hustling snacks at baseball games to building one of the most iconic tech companies in the world: Activision Blizzard. Hear how he cold-called Nintendo, got investment from Steve Wynn on a private jet, took over a bankrupt video game company, and turned it into an empire that Microsoft bought for $69 billion. In this episode, you’ll hear about: • Bobby’s early hustles: selling ashtrays, snacks…
In 2020, when President Trump signed the executive order that would ban TikTok in the U.S., Bobby Kotick called his old friend Steven Mnuchin. The former Secretary of the Treasury told him that, if TikTok’s U.S. operations were to be sold to an American company, Microsoft would be the only bidder. A couple calls later, he reached ByteDance founder and CEO Zhang Yiming, who said he’d rather sell to Bobby than Microsoft. Concerned about his ability to get the deal done solo, Bobby called Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and offered to make a joint bid. Nadella declined, but added, “ if the deal do…
CNBC’s Julia Boorstin and former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick join 'Squawk Box' to discuss his latest philanthropic ventures, the impact of AI on the economy and the workforce, the need for a reciprocal trade with China, state of the 2024 election, and more. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/42d859g » Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision » Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader…
Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard founder and CEO, joins 'Squawk box' to discuss his 32-year tenure leading the company, Microsoft's acquisition deal, future of Activision Blizzard, next steps for Kotick, and more.
Microsoft has completed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick says the deal will help Activision compete in the gaming space and Microsoft will be a "perfect home" for the next generation of gaming. Kotick says he'll focus on philanthropy when he leaves the company at the end of this year. He speaks Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Technology." Like this video? Subscribe to Bloomberg Technology on YouTube: / @bloombergtechnology Watch the latest full episodes of "Bloomberg Technology" with Emily Chang here: • old..Bloomberg Technology With Emily Chang.…
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, after U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority gave the green light to Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion takeover of the gaming firm, removing the last major hurdle for the deal to close. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi » Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision » Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to l…
CNBC's Julia Boorstin joins 'Closing Bell' with Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, to discuss the future of the Microsoft deal after a major ruling in the acquisitions favor this week.
CEO Bobby Kotick addresses the allegations about workplace culture at Activision Blizzard that have surfaced over the past few years. He also discusses the company's pending merger with Microsoft, why video game adaptations are having a moment in Hollywood and teases a new installment in the Guitar Hero franchise. http://bit.ly/VarietySubscribe / variety / variety / variety
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