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Downloaded by Gamers to Date, While the Call of Duty: World at War™ Map Packs Have Sold More Than 8.5 Million Units Combined 2009 2 0 0 9 a n n u a l r e p o r t $ 4.8 bi l l ion i n tota l n et r ev en ues* $ 1.2 bi l l ion i n tota l oper ati ng i ncom e* delivering + % long-term 26 growth oper ati ng m a rgi n* $ 1.2 bi l l ion i n oper ati ng c a sh f low $ 3.3 bi l l ion i n tota l c a sh a n d investments *Non-GAAP – For a full reconciliation see tables at the end of the annual report. 3 Battle.net®: The Premier Online Gaming Destination With more than 12 million active accounts, Blizzard Entertainment’s Battle.net® service is already one of the world’s largest online gaming platforms. To coincide with the launch of StarCraft® II, Battle.net is being redesigned to be the industry’s premier online gaming destination. New features will allow players to compete in new ways and interact with each other across different Blizzard Entertainment games, such as StarCraft II and World of Warcraft®. In addition, Battle.net will be tightly integrated into all Blizzard Entertainment games going forward, offering a tailored player experience unmatched by any other gaming service. 2 0 0 9 a n n u a l r e p o r t 2010: Strongest Slate Ever Activision Publishing Blizzard Entertainment 7 a c t i v i s i o n b l i z z a r d , i n c . t o o u r shareholders : 2009 was a very good year. We once again invested your capital thoughtfully. Over the last 10 years, the com- pounded annual growth rate of our stock price has been 24%. If you had $100 invested in Activision on December 31 of 1999, your stake would have been worth $870 at the end of 2009. This compares favorably to a $100 investment in the S&P 500 Index in the same time period, which would have dropped in value to only $76. In 2009, we delivered non-GAAP net revenues of $4.8 billion and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.69. On a GAAP basis, our net revenues were $4.3 billion and earnings per diluted share were $0.09. We ended the year with approximately $3.3 billion in cash and investments and no debt. We generated approximately $1.2 billion in operating cash flow, a measure of how we build shareholder value. We also delivered the most profitable year in our company’s history and record non-GAAP operating margins of 26%, the highest among any third-party publisher in our industry. In 2010, Brian and I will celebrate our 20th year at the helm of the company. Over the years, we have made some very good decisions, but have also made a few mistakes. Most importantly, we have integrated the lessons from those mistakes into our corporate discipline. Over this period of time, we have seen numerous changes in technologies such as microprocessors, graphics pro- cessors, game systems, storage media, as well as business models. We have also watched a number of seemingly untouchable franchises—and the publishers behind them—rise and fall, as the consumer base that enjoys games grows and diversifies while increasing their expectations for quality products and services. To the benefit of our audiences, game pricing has not changed much in 20 years, but the cost per hour of entertainment has fallen dramatically. What has changed is how much wider and deeper the moat protecting our franchises has become. Our 2009 financial results follow 17 years of strong performance. We are constantly on the lookout for better ways to deploy our assets and provide even greater returns on investment. You can expect the company to con- tinue to take a prudent and methodical approach to the use of its capital. While few technology companies pay dividends, we chose to declare a 15 cent per share dividend because we believe it demonstrates that our business, unlike other video game companies, is able to generate predictable cash flow from our stable franchises such as Activision’s Call of Duty® and Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft®, and that we can further enhance shareholder value through this action. On February 10, 2010, our Board of Directors authorized another $1 billion dollar share buyback program. This latest buyback authorization comes after completing a $1.25 billion authorized stock repurchase program over 14 months ending on December 31, 2009. Collectively, these actions illustrate the confidence we have in the future of our business and underscore our com- mitment to driving shareholder value through all available and appropriate means as our top priority. We entered 2009 with ambitious goals amidst very challenging economic times, and yet, we were able to gain market share and generate record cash flow. Our success reflects the resilience and dedication of our employees and the vibrancy of our world class product portfolio. During the year, we increased our U.S. and European share across all platforms to 16%. Activision’s release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare® 2 became the first video game ever to surpass $550 million in retail sales in its first five days of release1 and generated more than $1 billion in global retail sales in just nine weeks. Call of Duty is one of the most profitable entertainment franchises of all time. There are only a handful of properties that have 1According to Activision Publishing’s internal estimates 8 2 0 0 9 a n n u a l r e p o r t ever achieved this milestone, which illustrates the power and reach of the brand. As a result, today, we are the only publisher with three games that have surpassed $1 billion each in revenues—Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock™ and Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, remains the #1 subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game worldwide2, with approximately 11.5 million subscribers. Blizzard Entertainment also successfully transitioned World of Warcraft to a new licensee, an affiliated company of NetEase.com, Inc. in mainland China. NetEase is a strong partner whose operational efficiency and customer expertise has already had a significant impact. After its relaunch in China, World of Warcraft hit a new all-time peak in the number of simultaneous gamers playing there and excitement for the game has never been stronger. We are very proud of our partnership with NetEase as they share many of the same core principles that have helped us maintain our growth and margin expansion. Because of our success during a very challenging economic year, Brian and I were reminded how important it is for us to reaffirm our core principles with our shareholders. For 20 years, the company has subscribed to these principles that have guided our success. They include: • Focus our resources against the largest and most profitable opportunities; • Satisfy, surprise and delight our audiences; • And, continuously improve our operational discipline. We always start with pragmatism and an appreciation for the value of focus and prioritization. f o c u s o u r r e s o u r c e s a g a i n s t t h e l a r g e s t a n d m o s t p r o f i t a b l e opportunities Throughout our tenure, we have committed our organization to focus its attention and allocate capital only against the most promising areas of our business. This principle applies to how we manage our brands, our internal resources, our distribution channels and partners, and our opportunities for future earnings growth. We always strive to increase our capabilities in this area and are committed to doing so again this year. Today, we believe this approach is more critical than ever. Audiences now have more entertainment choices than ever before—many of these are at very low or no cost. Unlike many of our competitors, we remain steadfastly committed to a simple formula of focus and quality. d e l i v e r c o m p e l l i n g g a m e experiences t o c o n s u m e r s Our second principle is to satisfy, surprise and delight our audiences. This is the most difficult of our core principles to adhere to consistently. While we have a better track record than others, we believe there is room for improvement. We have the most talented game developers in the world with a commitment to excellence, and they are continually striving to deliver higher quality and more innovative products. Blizzard Entertainment’s ongoing support of its online community is a great example of this. Blizzard expects to launch a new version of Battle.net®, evolving it into the industry’s premier online gaming destination. The service will offer advanced communication features, social networking, player matching and digital content delivery. Battle.net is designed to keep players connected to their friends no matter which Blizzard game they are playing. 2According to Blizzard Entertainment’s internal estimates 9 a c t i v i s i o n b l i z z a r d , i n c . The service is expected to launch simultaneously with StarCraft® II and will power all of Blizzard Entertainment’s games moving forward. During 2009, console online play and digital transactions for Activision’s titles also gained critical mass.
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