ATVI Facing a Potential Lawsuit While New CFO Dennis Durkin Rakes in $15M Worth of 'Awards'

Amidst troubling times at Activision-Blizzard, the company's new Chief Financial Officer Dennis Durkin has scored $15,000,000 in "awards" for taking on the position full time. Durkin took over the CFO job after Spencer Neumann was fired prior to taking the CFO position at Netflix.

Here's the breakdown of Durkin's "award" package:

• $11.3M "of restricted stock tied to operating income and earnings per share targets"
• $3.75M as a sign on bonus
• $900,000 base salary

The news of the massive incentive package comes on the heels of tumbline stock value over the course of 2018, a less-than-stellar BlizzCon, controversy over the announced Diablo mobile game, incentivized employee reductions in Ireland, the split with Bungie and the rumored cost-cutting measures being implemented across the board at Blizzard. 

I wonder how the people at Blizzard who are worrying about layoffs and getting told to slash their budgets feel about this? https://t.co/9SgsxVZmpX

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 14, 2019

Source: Bloomberg, Jason Schreier

In other ATVI news, a New York law firm is soliciting disgruntled investors for a potential lawsuit against the company as a result of the break up with Bungie. According to the press announcement from Pomerantz LLC, "the investigation concerns whether Activision and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices". 

At the moment, attorneys are asking investors to join a potential class action lawsuit should the investigation prove there is legal basis to move forward.

Check out the press release here.