Grit10 Helmi 2025

#229 Former CEO Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick w/ Bing Gordon: Change the Game

Guest: Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision Blizzard; and Bing Gordon, Advisor at Kleiner Perkins

In 2020, when President Trump signed the executive order that would ban TikTok in the U.S., Bobby Kotick called his old friend Steven Mnuchin. The former Secretary of the Treasury told him that, if TikTok’s U.S. operations were to be sold to an American company, Microsoft would be the only bidder.

A couple calls later, he reached ByteDance founder and CEO Zhang Yiming, who said he’d rather sell to Bobby than Microsoft. Concerned about his ability to get the deal done solo, Bobby called Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and offered to make a joint bid.

Nadella declined, but added, “ if the deal doesn't get done, we should sit down and talk about us buying Activision.” TikTok currently remains Chinese-owned, but three years later, Microsoft paid $75 billion for Activision Blizzard.

Chapters:

(01:16) - Forming Activision Blizzard
(04:19) - Good acquisitions
(09:21) - Electronic Arts and “Schedule C”
(15:08) - Nintendo and Mediagenic
(21:19) - Steve Wynn
(29:24) - Wynn cashes out
(35:14) - Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
(40:38) - Blizzard’s many sales
(44:44) - World of Warcraft and Call of Duty
(47:59) - Jurassic Park
(50:40) - Chris Metzen
(55:06) - David Geffen
(58:11) - New competitors
(01:02:25) - The harassment lawsuits
(01:06:53) - Trying to buy TikTok
(01:08:51) - Hardware design
(01:12:52) - Polymarket, Donald Trump, and TikTok
(01:15:19) - The Call of Duty Endowment
(01:18:31) - Brian Stann and Hire Heroes USA
(01:21:49) - Steve Jobs and Pixar
(01:29:41) - The first Macintosh
(01:31:29) - The Wii demo
(01:33:42) - Nintendo 64, PlayStation and VR
(01:37:35) - The hardest year
(01:40:17) - Working with Brian Kelly
(01:41:26) - Satya Nadella and Microsoft
(01:44:39) - Xbox Game Pass
(01:49:35) - What “grit” means to Bobby

Mentioned in this episode: Vivendi, Bruce Hack and Arnaud de Puyfontaine, EA, Call of Duty, Bizarre Creations, Atari, Apple II, Commodore 64, Jean-Louis Gassée, Apple Lisa, Howard Lincoln, Philips, Magnavox Odyssey, Sutter Hill Ventures, Infocom and Zork, Toys-R-Us, Howard Hughes, E. Parry Thomas, Sun Valley, Thom Weisel, William Morris Endeavor, Guitar Hero, Davidson & Associates, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, World of Warcraft, Medal of Honor, Steven Spielberg, Michael Crichton, Chris Roberts, Overwatch, Tencent, Time Warner, Jeff Bewkes, Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In, Lina Khan, Samsung, Elon Musk, James L. Jones, UFC, E. Floyd Kvamme, Toy Story 2, Procter & Gamble, Ron Doornik, John Lasseter, Xerox PARC, Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata, Goldeneye 007, James Bond, Barbara Broccoli, Oculus, Apple Vision Pro, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Sam Altman, Mustafa Suleyman, Spotify, Candy Crush Saga, Disney, Phil Spencer, Clarence Avant and Motown Records.

Links:

Connect with Bobby

Connect with Bing

Connect with Joubin

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(286)

The Travel Giant Built on Billions of Reviews | Steve Kaufer on TripAdvisor

How did Tripadvisor become every traveler’s starting point?Steve Kaufer joins Joubin Mirzadegan on Grit to break down how Tripadvisor became the internet’s trusted travel companion, built on over a bi...

28 Heinä 20251h 12min

The Expert Network Behind Handshake AI’s Model Training w/ Garrett Lord & Mamoon Hamid

Guests: Garrett Lord, co-founder and CEO of Handshake; and Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner Perkins.Handshake set out to democratize career opportunity. In the process, it unlocked something more: a h...

21 Heinä 20251h 2min

How Plaid Turned a Failed $5.3B Deal with Visa into Momentum | Zach Perret (Plaid)

Zach Perret saw a fintech explosion coming—and built the rails before it arrived.On this week’s Grit, the Plaid co-founder and CEO retraces his path from building tools for developers to linking the w...

14 Heinä 20251h 4min

Episode 250: AI Special Featuring Sierra, Harvey, Windsurf & More

Six leaders from across tech — from SaaS and semis to law and logistics — come together for our 250th episode milestone in this very special AI recap, where we unpack how new advances are transforming...

7 Heinä 202554min

How Imprint Is Reinventing Credit Cards for Modern Brands | Daragh Murphy

Daragh Murphy is giving brands their own credit-card platform—no legacy bank required.On this week’s Grit, the Imprint co-founder and CEO traces the leap from being a junior lawyer to closing nine-fig...

30 Kesä 202555min

GitLab’s CEO on Why the Next Great Developer Might Not Write Code | Bill Staples

Bill Staples has spent 30 years redefining how the world writes, ships, and secures code.On this week’s Grit, the GitLab CEO shares what it takes to lead a public, all-remote DevSecOps company trusted...

23 Kesä 20251h 5min

Stord’s Plan to Take on Amazon’s Logistics Advantage | Sean Henry

What does it take to build the logistics backbone for the next generation of commerce?Sean Henry, founder and CEO of Stord, joins Kleiner Perkins partner Ilya Fushman and Grit host Joubin Mirzadegan t...

16 Kesä 202558min

Family, Focus, and 350M Users: Inside Zoom with Eric Yuan

Eric Yuan turned a simple belief into Zoom, the platform that kept the world moving through a once-in-a-century shutdown and redefined modern work. On this episode of Grit, the Zoom CEO shares why vel...

9 Kesä 20251h 14min