The same day Activision released Infinity Ward's
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, CEO Bobby Kotick celebrated the game's
record launch performance by exercising stock options that netted him more than $20 million.
A large quantity of stock vested for the CEO in 2000, when the options were valued at the comparatively meager price of $1.035 per share. Starting on Monday of this week, according to an
SEC filing from Activision, Kotick sold 1,931,102 shares of that stock at prices ranging from $11.4304 to $11.5107.
With a stock price well over ten times what it was at the vesting date, Kotick grossed $22,183,738.56 from a stock option purchase of $1,991,931.71 -- netting a grand total of $20,191.806.85.
Activision's stock (NASDAQ: ATVI) has actually risen ever so slightly since that point, having closed at $11.69 the day this article was published.
It is of course not the first time the CEO has netted big money through stock options. This August, when Activision was trading slightly higher, at $12.44, he sold a volume of 2 million shares and brought in nearly $25 million gross.
