Activision Blizzard is doing for employees during coronavirus: CEO

Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard CEO, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss how his company transitioned to working from home, what he's done to assist their comfort and the spike in activity the company is seeing as more people turn to video games during quarantine.

The uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic can take its toll on employees. For the 10,000 or so who work at Activision Blizzard around the world, one person they can call is CEO Bobby Kotick.

“About a month ago, we sent out an email from my email address with my phone number and we encouraged every single employee that has a concern that relates to their health care to just contact me directly,” Kotick told CNBC’s Becky Quick on “Squawk Box.”

Kotick said “a few hundred” employees have reached out to him since that email. “But we’re fortunate. Very few actually tested positive so far for Covid-19.”

He also complimented the work of Activision Blizzard’s human resources department as the maker of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft responded to the global outbreak.

“The team has been working 24/7 since we started work from home in our offices in China and our offices in Europe to really make sure that they were available for the benefit of the employees and their families,” he said.

Kotick, who has been CEO since 1991, said the Santa Monica, California-based company has taken additional steps to fortify health-care options for employees during the pandemic. “In countries where there are national health-care programs, we also have private doctors helping to assist and navigate through what can be a very complex process getting into national health care.”

Activision Blizzard also partnered with organizations for additional mental-health care and for licensed child care, said Kotick, noting the company has made investments to support research on treatments for Covid-19.

“We’ve always been a pioneer in these kinds of benefits, but some of the things we’re doing now, like supporting these clinical trials at important health institutions, these are things that are unprecedented for us as a company,” he said.

“But we’re definitely feeling from our employees that the extra investment, the extra attention, is appreciated,” Kotick added.

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[bigjamal]

This man fired 800+ workers and gave himself a $30 million bonus on his $100 million salary. Can't believe he's even talking about helping employees.

[MrZealot]

This is a very evil man...you can just see the evil in is dark eyes, his history speaks for him

[Lucifer-uzhj]

Its not Blizzard anymore, its Activision Blizzard. Blizzard is dead. RIP Blizzard

[LouSassoler]

He doesn't give a crap lol. Don't be fooled.

[briancooley]

This guy will be going to hell most likely

[AlfredoPuente]

This man is a demon on earth, you can't fired your workers during a pandemic and then give yourself 200 million on a bonus.

[kieronmckay]

As a former Activision employee that was in a class action lawsuit for unpaid wages, I’m going to guess activision is doing absolutely nothing for its employees.

[gabi-saint]

Activision-Blizzard is currently fighting EA for the most toxic game company title.

[antieie]

His face making me sick. Pretend to work with many healthcare for support people.. not true. He fired many people for his bonus.. trying to become richest man in disguise.

[PkGam]

As Bobby's talking, he's probably pondering laying off more employees to bolster his vast fortune further while overworking the remaining ones even more. Not to mention thinking of giving himself a few more bonuses.

[ProjectExodus-Official]

As a former Blizzard employee, I can personally attest to how absolutely inaccurate a boatload of these statements are. While the pay for Customer Service may not have been the best in the market, our health benefits were LEAGUES ahead of damn near everyone we knew, in ANY other field. And you may be able to apply "turnaround and employee retention" talk to some companies, but not Blizzard. There are people I know who are STILL there, who have worked the same positions (we're talking entry level) for over 10 years, simply because of how much they love the company and the people they work with. In fact, outside of Customer Service needing a pay raise, I would go as far as to say that Blizzard takes extremely good care of its employees. I was there, on and off, for 11 years and loved every day of it. To quote the movie Fury: "Best job I ever had." - So take your judgments and opinions from the outside of having never been a part of the company and understand this, you will never know what its like to be a part of something so special, but be talked down to by so many, while all those people also say they love you and want your products.

P.S. - I was one of those people in Customer Service, and I still bleed Blue, even though I didn't think the money was great. Let that sink in before you start bashing me with how bad they really treat, us even though you never worked there.

#BlizzLife <3

[Flint_Ironstagg]

he could have taken 190 mil instead of 200 and kept those 800 employees. disgusting

[blaynestaleypro]

OMG HE GAVE HIS PHONE NUMBER!!!! HE IS JESUS.

[Hopeful-passenger]

Blizzard? Youve f'ed your loyal consumers over and over again. I dumped blizzard as a owner and as a gamer along time ago.

[JamesBond-fgbt]

they fired record people, workers in france on strike to defend themselves

[thanalars]

I get the same dead/robot eye vibe of Elizabeth Holmes/Mark Zuckerberg from him. Anyone else feel the same? This guy feels soulless talking about people affected by the virus.

[jamesrideout]

LOL "A SMALL NUMBER OF PEOPLE" LIKE THE AMOUNT OF YOUR REMAINING STAFF AFTER FEBRUARY OF 2020 DESPITE MAKING RECORD PROFITS.

[fotis]

That jerk fired thousands of Blizzard employees in cold blood. All he cares is about his FAT PAYCHECK
Hope you have a pleasant sleep Mr Kottick in your super duper Mansion

[philipstorm]

Like anyone will dare to call him, they'll be scared to get fired

[AK-ssbv]

Bring Warcraft 3 Costume Campagne back or give us our Money for the Orginal Game back.