Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has suggested in recent weeks that gaming news sites like Kotaku and PC Gamer should be taken over. For example, he wants to improve the public perception of Activision Blizzard, according to anonymous sources.

How Kotick’s acquisition of Kotaku and PC Gamer will help improve Activision Blizzard’s perception, Taken from the Wall Street Journal article not clear. For example, it is not clear if Kotick wanted to influence articles surrounding Activision Blizzard after the media takeover.

The newspaper relies on anonymous sources “familiar with Kotec”. An Activision Blizzard spokesperson denies that Kotick wanted to take over the media. Kotaku and PC Gamer declined to comment.

In the same article, sources say that Microsoft has been interested in acquiring the gaming company for some time, but Kotick hasn’t necessarily been enthusiastic about it. When the game company received negative publicity several times last year Because of the treatment of womenKotick wanted to sell Activision Blizzard to Microsoft after all.

Also Bloomberg sources say That Kotick and other Activision Blizzard executives were previously negative about the Microsoft acquisition. However, these sources say that even after negative coverage, Activision Blizzard did not immediately approve the acquisition. For example, the company is said to have searched for other interested candidates, with Facebook’s parent company named Meta. However, according to sources, this did not happen. Meta and Activision Blizzard declined to comment on this rumor.

Microsoft would have noticed this “hesitation” from Activision Blizzard, and therefore decided to calm the acquisition talks. Activision Blizzard eventually resumed those talks, with the acquisition being discussed over the holiday season. The two companies announced the acquisition on Tuesday. Microsoft He wants to pay $68.7 billion for the acquisition, which is expected to close by July 2023.

According to Bloomberg Kotick owns approximately four million shares of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft will pay $95 per share upon acquisition; Thus Kotick will earn $375.3 million from the acquisition. Sources say Kotick will step down as CEO once the deal is complete, and the two companies have neither confirmed nor denied this.