Sometimes, when I am feeling particularly empathic, I actually feel sorry for Activision CEO Bobby Kottick. He is, after all, seen as the harbinger of everything bad about the games industry; a businessman bent on sucking it dry, and amassing ridiculous wealth often to the detriment of the pastime we all love so much. <\/p>\n
But then I think, he is really just a businessman, and perhaps people expect too much of him. I mean seriously, the guy is a multi-millionaire, can we really expect him to spend his weekends kicking back on the couch playing weird esoteric indie titles, and blogging about why games can or can’t be art? Unlikely.<\/p>\n
Then I read about his recent run-in with a lawyer, a private-jet flight attendant, and the departure of around $1 million from his personal bank account. <\/p>\n
The flight attendant in question was one Cynthia Madvig, who worked on a private-jet co-owned by Kottick and some big time investment banking guy named Andrew Gordon. According to Madvig, the plane’s pilot, Phil Berg, tried to pressure her into being his personal “arm-candy”, which essentially entailed being a public escort, attending dinners and public functions with him. When she refused, Berg apparently told her that he was going to “make life miserable” for her, which he did by, amongst other things, forcing her to clean the plane’s toilet whilst “leering” over her. <\/p>\n
Madvig told the plane’s co-owner Gordon, who did nothing about Berg’s behaviour. Two months after telling Gordon, Kottick fired Madvig, telling her that “The guys are unhappy with the hostile environment.” <\/p>\n
A lengthy legal battle ensued, where Madvig accused Gordon and Kotick of sexual harassment, failure to prevent sexual harassment, and wrongful termination. The case was eventually settled out of court, and Madvig received $200,000 plus $475,000 legal fees. To make matters worse, Kotick and Gordon’s own law firm then claimed that they had been under-paid by the two, who had to cough up an additional $938,458 plus an additional $479,898 in further legal fees.<\/p>\n
The two appealed against the ruling, but were denied last month, and the original decision was upheld. <\/p>\n
Source – LA Times<\/a> via Kotaku<\/a> <\/p>\n