Document:

Exhibit 10.1

 

Amendment #2 to the Employment Agreement 
 Between Brian Hodous and Activision Publishing, Inc.

 

This Amendment #2 to the Employment Agreement (“Amendment #2”) is effective as of September 18, 2012, by and between Brian Hodous (“Employee”) and Activision Publishing, Inc. (“Employer”), a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (“Activision Blizzard” and, together with its subsidiaries, the “Activision Blizzard Group”).  All capitalized terms shall have the same meaning set forth in the Employment Agreement (as defined below).

 

RECITALS:

 

Employee and Employer entered into an Employment Agreement dated as of July 31, 2009, which was amended August 1, 2011 (“Amendment #1”) (collectively the “Employment Agreement”).

 

Employee and Employer desire to amend the Employment Agreement in certain respects as set forth herein.

 

AGREEMENT:

 

The parties hereby agree to amend the terms of the Employment Agreement.  Except as specifically set forth in this Amendment #2, the Employment Agreement shall remain unmodified and in full force and effect.  If any term or provision of the Employment Agreement is contradictory to, or inconsistent with, any term or provision of this Amendment #2, then the terms of this Amendment #2 shall in all events control.  The amended terms are as follows:

 

1.             Term of Employment.  In Section 1(a), the Expiration Date is changed from March 31, 2013 to March 31, 2015.

 

2.             Compensation.  Section 2(b) shall now read:

 

“(b)         Commencing on March 3, 2013, you shall receive an annual base salary (“Base Salary”) of $660,000.00, which shall be paid in accordance with the Employer’s payroll policies.  Your Base Salary shall be reviewed periodically and may be increased by an amount determined by the Employer, in its sole and absolute discretion.”

 

3.             Compensation.  Section 2(f) is hereby added to the Employment Agreement and shall read as follows:

 

“(f)          Subject to the approval of the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of Activision Blizzard (the “Compensation Committee”), Activision Blizzard will grant to you a non-qualified stock option to purchase 50,000 shares of Activision Blizzard’s common stock (the “2012 Option”), 50,000 restricted share units which represent the conditional right to receive shares of Activision Blizzard’s common stock (the “2012 RSUs,”), and 50,000 performance-vesting restricted share units which represent the right to receive shares of Activision Blizzard’s common stock (the “2012 Performance Share Units”, and  collectively with the 2012 Option and the 2012 RSUs, the “2012 Equity Awards”).

 

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(i)            The 2012 Option will vest in full on March 30, 2015, subject to your remaining employed by the Activision Blizzard Group through the applicable vesting date.

 

(ii)           The 2012 RSUs will vest in full on March 30, 2015, subject to your remaining employed by the Activision Blizzard Group through such vesting date.

 

(iii)          Subject to your remaining employed by the Activision Blizzard Group through March 30, 2015, the 2012 Performance Share Units will vest in full on March 30, 2015, as determined by the Compensation Committee, as follows: (1) one-half of the 2012 Performance Share Units will vest if, and only if, the Compensation Committee determines that non-GAAP operating income for Activision Blizzard (the “Original Business Unit”) is greater than or equal to the non-GAAP annual operating plan operating income objective for the Original Business Unit as established by the Board of Directors, (the “Performance Objective”) for fiscal year 2013; and (2) one-half of the 2012 Performance Share Units will vest if, and only if, the Compensation Committee determines that the Performance Objective is met for fiscal year 2014. If, prior to the vesting of any portion of the 2012 Performance Share Units, as provided for in this provision, your primary job responsibilities are changed to a different business unit (the “New Business Unit”), then the Company, in its sole discretion, may substitute the New Business Unit’s non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP annual operating plan operating income objective, as established by the Board of Directors, for those of the Original Business Unit for the relevant fiscal year(s) to which the change applies, for purposes of determining whether or not the conditions of the unvested 2012 Performance Share Units have been satisfied.

 

You acknowledge that the grant of 2012 Equity Awards pursuant to this Section 2(e) is expressly conditioned upon approval by the Compensation Committee, and that the Compensation Committee has discretion to approve or disapprove the grants and/or to determine and make modifications to the terms of the grants.  The 2012 Equity Awards shall be subject to all terms of the equity incentive plan pursuant to which they are granted (the “Incentive  Plan”), the Employer’s Executive Stock Ownership Guidelines (including, but not limited to, all of the limitations on equity awards described therein) which are attached as Exhibit B, and Activision Blizzard’s standard forms of award agreement (as modified to the extent necessary to reflect the provisions of Section 10).  In the event of a conflict between this Agreement and the terms of the Incentive Plan or award agreements, the Incentive Plan or the award agreements, as applicable, shall govern.  These 2012 Equity Awards, if and when approved by the Compensation Committee, shall be in addition to any previous equity incentive awards made to you.”

 

4.             Termination of Obligations and Severance Payments.  Section 11, specifically including Sections 11(b)(iv), 11(c)(iv), 11(d)(ii) and 11(e)(iii), shall be modified as follows:

 

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a.     Where the reference to “Equity Awards and 2011 Equity Awards” appears, it shall now read “Equity Awards, 2011 Equity Awards, and 2012 Equity Awards.”

 

b.     Where the reference to “Option” appears, it shall now read “Option and 2012 Option.”

 

c.     Where the reference to “RSUs” appears, it shall now read “RSUs and 2012 RSUs.”

 

d.     Where the sentence “All vested RSUs and Performance RSUs shall be paid in accordance with their terms” appears, it shall now read “All vested RSUs, Performance RSUs, and 2012 Performance Share Units shall be paid in accordance with their terms.”

 

 

	
AGREED AND ACCEPTED:
    	
 
    
	
 
    	
 
    
	
Employer
    	
Employee
    
	
 
    	
 
    
	
ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC.
    	
 
    
	
 
    	
 
    
	
 
    	
 
    	
 
    	
 
    
	
By:
    	
/s/ Human Sakhnini
    	
 
    	
/s/ Brian Hodous
    
	
 
    	
Humam Sakhnini
    	
 
    	
Brian Hodous
    
	
 
    	
Chief Strategy and   Talent Officer
    	
 
    	
 
    
	
 
    	
 
    	
 
    	
 
    
	
Date:
    	
September 18, 2012
    	
 
    	
Date:
    	
September 18,   2012
    
						

 

3Exhibit 10.2

 

Activision Blizzard CEO Recognition Program

 

Purpose:  The purpose of the CEO Recognition Program (the “Program”) is to afford the Chief Executive Officer (the “CEO”) of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (the “Company”) the real-time opportunity to recognize outstanding performance and contributions by employees of Activision Blizzard, Inc., or any of its subsidiaries (the “Activision Blizzard Group”), in a personalized and meaningful way.

 

Effective Date:  The Program is effective upon adoption by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Compensation Committee”), and shall remain in place until the CEO or the Compensation Committee determines otherwise.

 

Eligibility:  All employees of the Activision Blizzard Group, regardless of level, position or location, are potentially eligible to receive awards under the Program.  However, if before an award is delivered, the Company determines that the recipient of an award has violated a) any Activision Blizzard Group policy, procedure, rule, or regulation during his or her employment; or b) any post-employment restriction, including but not limited to a restriction on solicitation, the employee will be deemed ineligible for payment, except as otherwise required by law or as determined otherwise by the CEO, in his or her discretion.  This Program and the rights and obligations hereunder shall not be assignable or transferable by any employee, unless provided for otherwise by the Company in writing and signed by the CEO.

 

Determination of Awards: Subject to the other terms and conditions of the Program, the CEO has the sole and final discretion to determine which employees will receive awards under the Program as well as the amount and nature of the awards.  Awards may be granted in cash or goods or services.  Cash awards will be paid via the employing entity’s normal payroll process.  Awards of goods or services may be paid via direct invoice to the Company by the vendor of the goods or services or via reimbursement request issued by the CEO’s office.

 

Bonus Pool:  For each year, the total value of recognition awards granted by the CEO to executive officers (i.e. employees subject to Compensation Committee oversight) will not exceed $1,000,000 and the total value of recognition awards granted by the CEO to any individual executive officer (i.e. employees subject to Compensation Committee oversight) will not exceed $25,000.  The total and individual annual values of recognition awards to employees other than executive officers will be left to the CEO’s reasonable discretion.

 

Record Keeping:  The CEO’s office will keep accurate records of all recognition awards granted by the CEO under the Program, including the recipient, value and nature of each award.  The

 

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CEO’s office will inform the Company’s Chief Compliance Officer of any awards that are made to executive officers to ensure those awards are accurately reflected in the Company’s proxy disclosure, if applicable.  The CEO may delegate these recordkeeping responsibilities to another individual or office in the Company as he or she deems appropriate.

 

Taxation:  As cash awards will be subject to applicable taxes and withholdings, recipients will receive a net amount after taxes.  The Company will gross-up (at a rate determined by the Company in its discretion) the recipients of awards made in the form of goods or services via the issuance of a separate cash payment to the recipient or to the IRS on behalf of the recipient.  The amount of any gross ups will not count against the $1,000,000 total or the $25,000 individual annual Program limits with respect to executive officers.  The Company will include the fair market value of any award granted in goods in services and the gross-up amount in the employees annual IRS Form W-2.  The Company will issue any additional tax documents to award recipients as well as comply with all tax reporting obligations to the applicable jurisdictions.

 

Not a Contract: The Program is not a contract between the Activision Blizzard Group and an employee; the Program does not confer upon any such individual the right to continued employment.  For individuals not employed pursuant to an employment agreement, this Program in no way alters the at-will employment status of his or her employment.  An employee or his or her employer may terminate employment at any time, with or without cause or notice, unless an employee’s employment agreement states otherwise.

 

Effect on Other Activision Blizzard Group Benefits Programs:  No recognition bonus payment under this Program will be considered salary or other compensation paid to an employee for purposes of computing any benefits to which he may be entitled under any employee benefit or retirement plan which may be maintained by the Activision Blizzard Group from time to time, except for those benefit plans which explicitly provide for otherwise.  Participation in this Program does not confer rights to participation in other programs which may be maintained by the Activision Blizzard Group from time to time, including but not limited to other annual or long-term incentive plans, non-qualified retirement or deferred compensation plans or other executive perquisite programs.

 

Termination of the Program:  The CEO retains sole discretion to amend, suspend, or terminate the Program, in whole or in part, at any time and for any reason, subject to Compensation Committee oversight.

 

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Governing Law:  This Program shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the federal laws of the United States and the laws of the State of California, or the state in which an employee was last employed by the Activision Blizzard Group, without regard to conflict of law principles.

 

Severability:  If any provision of this Program is held to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, such provisions shall be fully severable, the Program shall be construed and enforced as if such illegal, invalid or unenforceable provision had never comprised a part of this Program, and the remaining provisions of this Program shall remain in full force and effect and shall not be affected by the illegal, invalid or unenforceable provision or by its severance from this Program.  Furthermore, in lieu of such illegal, invalid or unenforceable provision, there shall be added automatically as part of this Program a legal and enforceable provision as similar in terms to such illegal, invalid or unenforceable provision as may be possible.

 

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