Bobby Kotick to Step Down from Coca-Cola Board of Directors

wowhead.com:

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, a Coca-Cola Company securities filing has revealed that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will be stepping down from the Coca-Cola Company's Board of Directors following the company’s annual shareholder meeting on March 28th. A member of the board since 2012, Kotick has served on various finance and management-development committees.

This news may surprise those who weren't aware of the affiliation, though it's not unusual for big name executives to serve on multiple boards — in fact, Kotick has served on several, including the Center for Early Education, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Yahoo!, and the Tony Hawk Foundation. Likewise, most of the members of Activision Blizzard's board serve on others as well, as do those on Coca-Cola's.

Increasing pressure over the controversies surrounding Activision Blizzard and allegations against Kotick in particular likely exacerbated his stepping down though, as several investment and lobbyist groups have petitioned to have him removed. It's difficult to give a full account of the disdain for Bobby Kotick, due to how dramatically it's grown over the last few years.

Much of it originated from his salary, as the highly successful Activision Blizzard also highly enriched its CEO with extravagant bonuses on top of his already high base pay. Despite repeatedly cutting his salary and forgoing all bonuses however, pressure continued to mount in the form of allegations that the chief executive was aware of sexual harassment issues at the company.