<<

Activision Blizzard, Inc. Watchdog Report ™ ATVI ( Global) | CIK:718877 | United States | SEC llings The new model for duciary analysis Sep 24, 2021 Jan 1, 2020 Jan 1, 2016 RECENT PERIOD HISTORICAL PERIOD Key Facts 10-Q led on Aug 3, 2021 for period ending Jun 2021 Business address: Santa Monica, , United States Reporting Irregularities RECENT HISTORICAL Industry: Software Publishers (NAICS 511210) Financial Restatements SEC ler status: Large Accelerated Filer as of Jun 2021 Index member: S&P 500, Russell 1000 Revisions

Market Cap: $58.5b as of Sep 24, 2021 Out of Period Adjustments Annual revenue: $8.09b as of Dec 31, 2020 Late Filings

Corporate Governance Impairments

CEO: Robert A. Kotick since 2008 Changes in Accounting Estimates

CFO: Armin Zerza since 2021 Disclosure Controls 1st level

Internal Controls Board Chairman: Brian G. Kelly since 2013 Critical / Key Audit Matters Audit Committee Chair: NOT AVAILABLE 2nd level Anomalies in the Numbers RECENT HISTORICAL Auditor: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP since 2008 Benford's Law Outside Counsel (most recent): Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP Dechert LLP Beneish M-Score Kenney & Sams PC Accounting Disclosure Complexity Wilchins Cosentino & Friend LLP Ropes & Gray LLP Securities & Exchange Commission Concerns RECENT HISTORICAL 3rd level SEC Oversight SEC Reviewer: (unknown) 4th level SEC Letters to Management

Revenue Recognition

Non-GAAP Measures Litigation & External Pressures RECENT HISTORICAL Signicant Litigation

Securities Class Actions

Shareholder Activism

Watchdog Research, Inc., offers both individual and group subscriptions, Cybersecurity data feeds and/or custom company reports to our subscribers. Management Review Subscribe: We have delivered 300,000 public company reports to over RECENT HISTORICAL 27,000 individuals, from over 9,000 investment rms and to 4,000+ public CEO Changes company corporate board members. CFO Changes

How to analyze this company's Watchdog Insider Sales Report? Skip to the last page Pledged Securities

Information in this report is effective Sep 24, 2021 and is taken from the Mergers & Acquisitions company's public nancial and regulatory lings. Latest ling 10-Q led Sales of Assets 08/03/2021. Over 75 accounting and data analysts scrutinize and review crucial information, footnotes, disclosures, etc., from these lings. Material Auditor Assessment facts are captured and processed using our proprietary methods which RECENT HISTORICAL identify key risk factors our readers need to know. Each Watchdog Report Auditor Changes represents 30 or more hours of analysis and processing. Auditor Experience

Accounting and nancial disclosure data from Audit Analytics. Auditor Tenure Executive compensation data from Shore Group and Intrinio. Data from Sharadar. Audit Fees Data from Barchart via Quandl. Non-Audit Fees Data from Exchange Data International via Quandl.

Watchdog Research, Inc. • www.watchdogresearch.com • [email protected] • (855) 820-6272 Overview Reporting Irregularities Anomalies in the Numbers SEC Concerns Litigation & External Pressures Management Review Auditor Assessment Peer Group

Overview

Price and Volume History

This graph shows the price and trading history for Blizzard. Warning signs and red ags are marked on the graph according to their disclosure dates.

1 Aug 3, 2021 - Lawsuit: Gary Cheng v. Activision Blizzard Inc et al 19 Sep 8, 2019 - Cybersecurity

2 Aug 3, 2021 - Securities Class Actions Lawsuit: Gary Cheng v. Activision Blizzard Inc et … 20 Jul 2, 2019 - Insider Sale

3 May 13, 2021 - Insider Sale 21 May 2, 2019 - Revisions

4 Apr 2, 2021 - Change in CFO 22 May 2, 2019 - Lawsuit: Chase Hamano v. Activision Blizzard Inc et al

5 Apr 1, 2021 - Insider Sale 23 May 2, 2019 - Securities Class Actions Lawsuit: Chase Hamano v. Activision Blizzard In…

6 Mar 3, 2021 - Insider Sale 24 Apr 2, 2019 - Insider Sale

7 Feb 23, 2021 - Disclosure Controls 25 Jan 18, 2019 - Lawsuit: Mohamad Labade v. Activision Blizzard Inc et al

8 Feb 23, 2021 - Critical / Key Audit Matters 26 Jan 18, 2019 - Securities Class Actions Lawsuit: Mohamad Labade v. Activision Blizzar…

9 Dec 4, 2020 - Lawsuit: Activision Blizzard Inc v. Netix Inc 27 Jan 4, 2019 - Change in CFO

10 Oct 29, 2020 - Disclosure Controls 28 Aug 20, 2018 - Insider Sale

11 Aug 31, 2020 - Insider Sale 29 Jul 17, 2018 - Cybersecurity

12 Aug 4, 2020 - Disclosure Controls 30 Jul 8, 2018 - Cybersecurity

13 Jul 1, 2020 - Insider Sale 31 Jul 3, 2018 - Insider Sale

14 May 11, 2020 - Insider Sale 32 May 18, 2018 - Insider Sale

15 Mar 10, 2020 - SEC letters to management 33 May 3, 2018 - Disclosure Controls

16 Mar 10, 2020 - Revenue Recognition 34 Apr 3, 2018 - Insider Sale

17 Feb 27, 2020 - Critical / Key Audit Matters 35 Feb 22, 2018 - Insider Sale

18 Feb 27, 2020 - Critical / Key Audit Matters 36 Feb 21, 2018 - Insider Sale

Watchdog Research, Inc. • www.watchdogresearch.com • [email protected] • (855) 820-6272 37 Nov 20, 2017 - Insider Sale 50 Sep 20, 2016 - SEC letters to management

38 Aug 18, 2017 - Insider Sale 51 Sep 20, 2016 - Revenue Recognition

39 Aug 13, 2017 - Cybersecurity 52 Sep 1, 2016 - Insider Sale

40 Jun 6, 2017 - SEC letters to management 53 Aug 18, 2016 - Insider Sale

41 May 18, 2017 - Insider Sale 54 Aug 17, 2016 - Insider Sale

42 May 11, 2017 - Change in CFO 55 Aug 10, 2016 - Insider Sale

43 Mar 16, 2017 - Insider Sale 56 Aug 4, 2016 - Disclosure Controls

44 Feb 28, 2017 - Disclosure Controls 57 Jun 15, 2016 - Insider Sale

45 Feb 22, 2017 - Insider Sale 58 May 9, 2016 - Disclosure Controls

46 Feb 21, 2017 - Insider Sale 59 Mar 17, 2016 - Insider Sale

47 Feb 14, 2017 - Insider Sale 60 Mar 16, 2016 - Insider Sale

48 Nov 18, 2016 - Insider Sale 61 Mar 14, 2016 - Insider Sale

49 Nov 4, 2016 - Disclosure Controls 62 Jan 5, 2016 - Insider Sale

Notications

Important notications related to the company are listed here. Notications may come from the SEC, exchanges such as the NYSE or NASDAQ, or Watchdog Research. Examples of notications include announcements of bankruptcy proceedings, company name changes, and noncompliance with SEC regulations or exchange rules.

There are no notications for Activision Blizzard at least since 2016.

Peer Group

Peer groups are used by companies to benchmark executive compensation and performance. Each company identies its own peer group. Peer groups vary from company to company.

Peer Group Companies Who Named Activision Blizzard as a Peer

Company Ticker Market Cap Company Ticker Market Cap

Paypal Holdings, Inc. PYPL $327b Adobe Inc. ADBE $297b

The Walt Disney Company DIS $320b Netix Inc. NFLX $263b

Adobe Inc. ADBE $297b Inc. INTU $158b

Salesforce Com Inc. CRM $280b Inc. (Priceline) BKNG $102b

Netix Inc. NFLX $263b Mercadolibre Inc. MELI $92.9b

Intuit Inc. INTU $158b Equinix Inc. EQIX $74.9b

ServiceNow, Inc. NOW $131b Workday, Inc. WDAY $66.6b

Activision Blizzard, Inc. ATVI $58.5b Activision Blizzard, Inc. ATVI $58.5b

eBay Inc. EBAY $47.4b Inc. EA $37b

Electronic Arts Inc. EA $37b Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS $28.2b

Watchdog Research, Inc. • www.watchdogresearch.com • [email protected] • (855) 820-6272 Peer Flag Comparison

The return to a company’s stock is not the only measure of executive performance. Ethics matter, and growth can quickly reverse and gains evaporate if a company’s accounting and nancial reporting processes are not fundamentally sound and trustworthy. How does Activision Blizzard's accounting quality compare to its peer group?

ATVI PEER GROUPFLAGS ATVI PEER GROUPFLAGS Reporting Irregularities Litigation & External Pressures

Financial Restatements 9 Signicant Litigation 3 6

Revisions 9 Securities Class Actions 4 5

Out of Period Adjustments 9 Shareholder Activism 9

Impairments 5 4 Cybersecurity 3 6

Changes in Accounting Estimates 7 2 Management Review

Disclosure Controls 8 1 CEO Changes 4 3 2

Internal Controls 8 1 CFO Changes 2 4 3

Critical / Key Audit Matters 4 5 Insider Sales 9

Pledged Securities 8 1 Anomalies in the Numbers

Benford's Law 4 5 Mergers & Acquisitions 2 4 3

Beneish M-Score 6 1 Sales of Assets 8 1

Accounting Disclosure Complexity 4 5 Auditor Assessment

Auditor Changes 9 Securities & Exchange Commission Concerns

SEC Oversight 9 Auditor Experience 9

SEC Letters to Management 9 Auditor Tenure 5 4

Revenue Recognition 4 5 Audit Fees 3 6

Non-GAAP Measures 9 Non-Audit Fees 7 2

Watchdog Research, Inc. • www.watchdogresearch.com • [email protected] • (855) 820-6272

About Watchdog Research, Inc.

Watchdog Research, Inc. is an independent research provider and publisher of Watchdog Reports. Watchdog Reports identify red ags, issues, and other anomalies in nancial reporting. Our reports contain warning signs, red ags, material disclosures, and peer analysis for use in valuation, risk analysis, due diligence research, and idea generation.

Watchdog Reports are designed to assist investment professionals fulll their duciary or suitability obligations and to help investors, executives, board members, regulators and educators learn what they need to know about publicly traded companies.

The company is headquartered in Ave Maria, FL. Watchdog Research, Inc. utilizes over 75 specialists and analysts to provide accurate and timely Watchdog Research, Inc. information to our readers. 5072 Annunciation Cir. Suite 202 Ave Maria, FL 34142

Our management team is: [email protected] (855) 820-6272 CEO: Brian Lawe. Brian has been part of the corporate staff at The New York www.watchdogresearch.com Times Company and IBM. He has created and operated several technology companies including MyStoreCredit, OnPage Ideas and HelloCampus. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA from Texas Christian University. He and his wife have four children and live in the Naples, FL area.

CTO: Radu Cugut. Radu has led the award-winning technology team that developed the Watchdog Report and services. He, his wife and son split their time between his home in Ave Maria, FL and his home in Timisoara, Romania where he oversees ve talented development professionals. Radu has a bachelors in Computer Science and a masters in Banking and Financial Information Systems, both from the West University of Timisoara.

Chief Content Ocer: Joseph Burke, Ph.D. is responsible for the content development, analysis, and quality control for the Watchdog Report. Joseph worked previously as a professor of economics at Ave Maria University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and resides with his family in the Naples area.

Director of Research: John Cheffers. John is responsible for writing our blogs and for our press relationships. He received his bachelors from Washington University in St. Louis, and has worked for Audit Analytics and Ave Maria University. He graduated Ave Maria University School of Law where his research was selected for publication in the Law Review. He currently lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

Watchdog Research, Inc. • www.watchdogresearch.com • [email protected] • (855) 820-6272