Blizzard has been having a rough time lately, with lots of changes happening along with some controversies. Most recently, changes to their staff have taken place, most notably with the termination of Activision Blizzard’s CFO, Spencer Neumann. He was fired due to “violating his legal obligations to the company,” leading many to believe this is in reference to his new position as CFO of Netflix. Former Activision Blizzard CFO Dennis Durkin will be taking the place of Neumann, at least for the time being.
While Activision Blizzard hasn’t commented further on Neumann’s termination, it’s possible that the company found out about his interview with the streaming company and considered that a violation of legal obligation, or failure to provide proper notice. It’s also possible that Neumann violated legal obligations unintentionally due to the complexity of some contracts. Whatever the case, Netflix seems happy to have him, saying, “Spencer is a stellar entertainment executive and we’re thrilled that he will help us provide amazing stories to people all over the world.”
The troubles don’t stop there for Activision Blizzard, though. The CFO of Blizzard Entertainment, Amrita Ahuja, has left the company, too, heading to the merchant and payment company, Square (not to be confused with video game developer and publisher Square Enix). In contrast to Neumann, Ahuja will be seemingly leaving Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Activision Blizzard, in an amicable way. Square, too, is happy to have her, with the CEO of the company, Jack Dorsey, stating, “Amrita brings the ability to consider and balance opportunities across our entire business, and she will help strengthen our discipline as we invest, build, and scale.”
It’s unclear if these two departures are related to one another, or just a string of bad luck for the company, but we will be eagerly awaiting any further updates and will let you know if we hear anything.
[Source: GameDaily.biz and CNBC]
