Bridging the cultural divide…
Activision (ATVI) filed its proxy late yesterday and the first thing that caught my eye was the long list of curiously-named perks for Brian Hodous, who joined the company as chief customer officer in November 2006. Among Hodous’ perks are something called a “mobility premium” and “cultural training” — neither of which are defined.
While it’s true that there are some cultural differences between the UK and Southern California, where Activision is based, it’s hard to imagine that the differences are that significant as to require cultural training. Especially since Hodous doesn’t appear to be a died-in-the-wool Brit, since according to the proxy, he graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee.
Still, the cultural training might make for an interesting class. Perhaps Posh Spice, who’s recently invaded LA might be able to teach Hodous a few things about adjusting to life in SoCal.
Advertisement
|
Posted in |
 4 Comments » |
July 31st, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Video game makers see pressure ahead of earnings
12:31p ET July 31, 2007 (MarketWatch)
Activision rocking the charts
Among the independent publishers, Activision has had the strongest performance so far this year. This is mostly owing to the company’s ultra-popular “Guitar Hero” franchise, for which the company launched an Xbox 360 version earlier this year.
In fact, Activision is the only independent publisher to have a game in the top five sellers during the past three months, according to NPD data.
In addition to “Guitar Hero,” the company has done well with its movie tie-ins for “Spiderman 3″ and “Transformers” – both of which have racked up strong box-office totals at the theater.
However, the stock has recently weakened, dropping 15% in the last three months. Analysts speculate that investors may be worried that Activision’s release schedule is more heavily tilted to the first half of the year, as well as looming competition for the “Guitar Hero” franchise.
“We think that the shares have recently come under pressure due to concerns about competition from the upcoming MTV title ‘Rock Band,’ and expect management to address the competitive threat during the conference call,” Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said in a report Monday.
Activision will report its results on Thursday. Analysts currently expect the company to post earnings of 7 cents a share on revenue of $446.4 million, according to consensus forecasts from Thomson Financial. The company said earlier this month that it expects results for the period to top its earlier estimates.
July 31st, 2007 at 3:00 pm
The cultural training is almost certainly Japanese language/cultural sensitivity training. It is actually quite common in the video game world given that two fo the big three console makers are Japanese companies and Japan remains one of the biggest gaming markets.
July 31st, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Interesting — and here I was being snarky. That actually sounds pretty reasonable now that I think about it.
July 31st, 2007 at 4:34 pm
So buy him a copy of Rosetta Stone!
More pork for the already bloated management.