Updated: Activision CEO Earned $64.9 Million in 2012

[DarkSpectre]

People who think that working for a low wage in the country so they can afford their standard of living is akin to slavery should actual go meet some real slaves. People who are beaten and starved if they don't make bricks for their masters. Little girls who are drugged and bound so that they can be used as sex objects. Prisoners in a communist labor camp forced to work against their will for the good of the 'people'. That is slavery. If you don't like working for assholes don't work for them. You can up and leave. Go into the vast wilderness and live on your own terms. Hunt and grow your own food. Nothing is stopping you from leaving and being totally independent besides your own choices and ability. If you have crippling debt, well guess what you made a choice to borrow that money in the first place. Don't make agreements with assholes and you won't get shit on. Stop expecting other people to take care of you. Take care of yourself. Mr. Kotick isn't hording all the food in the world or some other needed survival item. Forcing him to take a lower wage is the exact same thing as forcing you to take a lower wage. He has the exact same rights you have. You have the right to request any compensation you desire for your ideas and services. He has the right to do the same thing. If you want to demand 7 million for your job then you have the right to, and your boss has the right to deny it, and you have the right to quit. Demanding he sacrifice his desires to somebody else's is tyranny. Nobody is more important. By what objective rule would you decide what is this so called fair wage? If somebody has an amazing idea then they shouldn't be allowed to ask whatever they want for the idea? They should be forced to take whatever the 51% decide is fair? Majority rule is the tyranny of the masses. The minority is forever at the whims of the majority. This is why we have laws and government to protect the rights of every individual.

 

[Lawyer105]

Hm, my post wasn't necessarily directed at you, interesting you took it that way though. So you tell yourself you are angry, and that you are upset over something righteous. But the basis for that anger is nothing but envy. You are simply envious on behalf of other people, and I'm willing to bet that eventually that envy will include your own. No one has suffered from his income, and the stock options he received are the result of a contract. You truly have no basis to judge if what he earned was too much or too little. And if you believe you should have a say in other peoples living, I want nothing to do with the "better life" you claim to be championing.

I didn't consider it to be aimed at me at all... but those who defend the "one percenters" (God, how I hate that label... but it's convenient) are so wilfully blind to the events in the world around them that it offends me. Hence my response to your post.

As for my "envy", I used to be part of that system. I was a good little wage-slave. I got a mortgage, got a well-paid (in comparison to pretty much anyone except the one-percenters) job, worked hard and did what I was told. I watched accounts, balanced books, studied and advised on regulations etc. And for all of that time, I refused to look around, refused to see beyond my own needs and cares, refused to see what the system I was part of was doing to the world and the society around me. And one day, I couldn't not see anymore. I couldn't ignore what was going on around me. And I quit. I'm not part of that any more, and I'm certainly not going back to it. So, no. I'm not envious.

I'm angry, yes - I believe that we, as a society, should have moved beyond this sort of BS. I'm afraid, yes - I'm terrified that we're standing on the brink of disaster, and we're blindly lemming'ing towards it. I'm frustrated, yes - because I can see the problems, and yet I know that I have only enough information to see a tiny part of the problem (hence it's bigger than even I can see) and I know that I have absolutely no power to change it. All of those things, yes. Envious, no.

As for the "nobody suffers from his gains" rubbish, frankly I'm not even going to debate this with you. If you're so blind that you can't see how other people are impacted by this then nothing I can say is going to force you to see, so why bother.

Finally, the whole "I shouldn't speak of other people's living" nonsense - Were those who said "we shouldn't be doing this whole slavery thing" not working towards a better life? Were those who said "'ang on a minute... them serfs shouldn't be treated like that" wrong to speak? Were the suffragettes who said "You can't treat us this way just 'cause we're women!" simply selfish? I think not... it's kind of sad that you seem to believe otherwise.

I'm not blind to the problems. I don't claim to have all the answers. I know that I would make a terrible leader, and would refused the job if it was offered. But that doesn't make me envious, sorry. It doesn't make me wrong, either...

 

[likalaruku]

Can you buy Zimbabwe with that kind of money?

 

[Lawyer105]

Can you buy Zimbabwe with that kind of money?

I'm not sure how that's relevant... at this point, you can probably buy Zimbabwe with what you gain by giving up one cup of Starbucks / Nero / coffee-house coffee of choice!

 

[Basement Cat]

Lucky him, making all that money.

*sigh*

CEO salaries and their "Golden Parachutes" have really gotten out of hand since the 80's.

I guess this helps to explain why Erin won't [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/10282-Conflict-of-Interest] date [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/10287-Obligatory] someone from Activision.

 

[Kelgair]

I didn't consider it to be aimed at me at all... but those who defend the "one percenters" (God, how I hate that label... but it's convenient) are so wilfully blind to the events in the world around them that it offends me. Hence my response to your post.

As for my "envy", I used to be part of that system. I was a good little wage-slave. -snip-

And that's the point I lost interest in your reply. If you consider receiving a wage to be a form of slavery you're so blinded by whatever of the few ideologies that advocate that form of idiocy that no amount of conversation on a forum would sway you. So I hope you enjoy your life of self-righteous anger and, yes, envy. I'm sure it'll work wonders for you. Just remember to stick it to the man, man. Rip the system, yadda yadda.

Edit: Whoa, I did skim a bit more and comparing yourself to abolitionists and suffragists... lol. I can do naught but laugh.

 

[Aramis Night]

Go into the vast wilderness and live on your own terms. Hunt and grow your own food. Nothing is stopping you from leaving and being totally independent besides your own choices and ability. If you have crippling debt, well guess what you made a choice to borrow that money in the first place. Don't make agreements with assholes and you won't get shit on. Stop expecting other people to take care of you. Take care of yourself.

You do realize that you have to own property to grow food right? Last i checked, property tends to be a bit expensive. And even if you do own property your still have to pay property tax on it. At least assuming the government doesn't decide to eminent domain your property because they want to build another Walmart or some other "public work" that will never actually get built and instead get sold to some developer.

 

[Aramis Night]

While the figure is huge, the actual amount available is relatively small in comparison. Considering its over a span of a few years, and a projection due to stock options, the real amount could be smaller. In other words, stock options are just a way of being rewarded for success and punished for failure.
I don't have any problem with people who make insane amounts of money, it doesn't affect me in the slightest. If you really think it does, you don't know how the tax system works at all in the US.
People who are in the top 50% of earnings pay nearly 100% of the taxes in the US, while the bottom pay around 3-4%. The top 1% pay nearly 40% of taxes and the top 5% pay nearly 60%.
So I don't know how anyone can say the rich don't contribute. They don't get money back at the end of the year like a large portion of the country (EITC).

Actually those figures only account for federal income tax(which is roughly 40% of all federal taxes collected). It is close to impossible for anyone to not pay taxes. Your figures do not reflect state income tax, sales tax, property tax, social security tax, medicare tax, estate tax, gift tax, luxury tax, license taxes, payroll taxes, unemployment tax, excise tax, etc. This whole idea that rich people are supporting the weight of this country on their shoulders is patently false and disingenuous. Hearing how people who bust their ass for around min wage are a bunch of lazy moochers is just disgusting.

Maybe if employers were willing to pay people a living wage, then more people would be able to help pay for all the horrible federal income tax that wealthy people like to complain about. But i'm guessing they would rather keep the money and pretend to be so ill served by a system that allows them to live with such luxury.

 

[Lawyer105]

And that's the point I lost interest in your reply. If you consider receiving a wage to be a form of slavery -snip-

And that's the point where I realised you're just trolling. Doh. Alright, I admit it - you got me.

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

Edit: Deleted cuz I posted in the wrong thread. Too many damn tabs 3:

 

[Adon Cabre]

[HEADING=1]sports fans had already guessed that update[/HEADING]

[h4]

Michael Pachter is laughing at you all.
Get some business sense.​

[/h4]

If you cover any major sports franchise then knew that this is a contract extension! A twelve year old New York Jets fan would have assumed this. No wonder most of the media hub doesn't take this medium seriously. That this story even broke makes the gaming media a laughing stock -- they lack a basic understanding of big company contracts and salaries.

[HEADING=3]Is Gaming Media too Far Removed from Social life?[/HEADING]
It's absolutely ridiculous that the Escapist, IGN, and Kotaku could all be this dense!

 

[dragonnewby]

To all the complainers in this thread: If the board of directors of an extremely successful company thinks that this man is worth that much, and they are making profit based on that assumption, both he and the board of directors are doing something right. If you think you can run a company while making as much profit as Activision, go ahead and start your own.

PS: Capitalism is not a perfect system, but it is still better than any other.

 

[Lawyer105]

To all the complainers in this thread: If the board of directors of an extremely successful company thinks that this man is worth that much, and they are making profit based on that assumption, both he and the board of directors are doing something right.

Only if you assume that maximising profit is actually a good thing.

By and large, the maximisation of profit generally results in a detrimental cost for humanity and society as a whole. This has been demonstrated repeatedly, in multiple different industries and with multiple different companies. I don't know how anybody still remains ignorant of this...

 

[dragonnewby]

To all the complainers in this thread: If the board of directors of an extremely successful company thinks that this man is worth that much, and they are making profit based on that assumption, both he and the board of directors are doing something right.

Only if you assume that maximising profit is actually a good thing.

By and large, the maximisation of profit generally results in a detrimental cost for humanity and society as a whole. This has been demonstrated repeatedly, in multiple different industries and with multiple different companies. I don't know how anybody still remains ignorant of this...

Except it was not. Go ahead, find me a study that says that profit maximization as a whole is "detrimental" as you put it instead of just case studies. And I'll show you multiple states where they decided to take profit incentives away. Haven't you heard enough horror stories about Soviet Union? No one wanted to work, no one wanted to do anything, the state fell apart extremely quickly. People need a goal, an incentive to do work and profit maximization does exactly that. Capping that profit with an arbitrary ceiling is like destroying the full potential of capitalism.

 

[Lawyer105]

Nonsense. Extremism of any form is bad. You quite rightly decry the communist extremism of the old Soviet Union, and yet beat your chest about how clearly superior the equally extreme (if diametrically opposed) capitalist system is. The hypocrisy is staggering - no point continuing this discussion.

 

[dragonnewby]

Nonsense. Extremism of any form is bad. You quite rightly decry the communist extremism of the old Soviet Union, and yet beat your chest about how clearly superior the equally extreme (if diametrically opposed) capitalist system is. The hypocrisy is staggering - no point continuing this discussion.

Never said anything about extremism or Communism. In fact, Soviet Union wasn't even close to Communism. And modern Capitalism isn't even extremist or the opposite of communism since communism is not even an economic system, but a social one. But whatever helps you sleep at night.

 

[Kelgair]

And that's the point I lost interest in your reply. If you consider receiving a wage to be a form of slavery -snip-

And that's the point where I realised you're just trolling. Doh. Alright, I admit it - you got me.

Naaah, if I was trolling you it'd be something more like this.

Oh cruel slavery
Receiving money for work
My latte is cold

 

[Strazdas]

PS: Capitalism is not a perfect system, but it is still better than any other.

There are. Multiple.
Also you sound like becasue there is capitalism we cant find a better system?

Haven't you heard enough horror stories about Soviet Union? No one wanted to work, no one wanted to do anything, the state fell apart extremely quickly. People need a goal, an incentive to do work and profit maximization does exactly that. Capping that profit with an arbitrary ceiling is like destroying the full potential of capitalism.

Havent you heard of the soviet union? a totalitarian regime that lasted over 80 years where the main motivator for police was "kill quotas" because a one-man personality cult decided so. Soviet Union problems had nothing to do with economy, but with society, proving that humans are greedy and given the chance can and WILL kill others to get what they want. if anything, Soviet union has proven how bad Plutocracy is.

And that's the point where I realised you're just trolling. Doh. Alright, I admit it - you got me.

Careful there. Apparently on this forum you can get banned for calling other person a troll.

Naaah, if I was trolling you it'd be something more like this.

Oh cruel slavery
Receiving money for work
My latte is cold

In which case you wouldnt know what trolling is. Satire (however poor) is not trolling.

 

[Kelgair]

In which case you wouldnt know what trolling is. Satire (however poor) is not trolling.

Eh, in my experience there are many forms of trolling, satire/mockery is but one as long as it gets a rise out of someone. Admittedly I skipped the insincere "oh yes, wage slavery is an actual thing and bad" intro mockery, but I was already accused so figured I'd just give an example of the less subtle stuff I'd have given him if I was actually trolling.

 

[Strazdas]

In which case you wouldnt know what trolling is. Satire (however poor) is not trolling.

Eh, in my experience there are many forms of trolling, satire/mockery is but one as long as it gets a rise out of someone. Admittedly I skipped the insincere "oh yes, wage slavery is an actual thing and bad" intro mockery, but I was already accused so figured I'd just give an example of the less subtle stuff I'd have given him if I was actually trolling.

Satire and mockery are not forms as trolling, altrough most people mix that up. a person is not a troll for mocking you, hes just an ass. The reader will not evne understand that you are insincere if you are trolling, and if you are really good at it he will be the only one not understanding it. It saddens me to see that people think that mockery is trolling. Thats like surgery being downgraded to pulling spider legs.