In June, CtW Investment Group, which "works with union-sponsored pension funds to enhance long-term shareholder value," called on Activision shareholders to reject CEO Bobby Kotick's proposed compensation plan. over 43% of shareholders voted " say-on-pay" vote, the highest level of opposition to CEO compensation in the company's history, but not enough to actually get the job done.

In July, the investment group filed the same complaint about Electronic Arts, saying that company executives, especially CFO Blake Jorgensen and CTO Kenneth Moss, were getting paid too much while firing employees for poor performance. And this time it actually worked, as the proposed package was rejected by roughly 74% of voting shares late last week. [Because it is extremely rare for a say-on-pay plan to be rejected, the rejection rate for 2019 was only 2.7% and 2.6% in 2018, according to a Semler Brossy report cited by CtW Investment Group. The company noted that shareholders are "taking a more critical approach when voting" on compensation plans, but still had an average support rate of over 90% last year.

At least part of the backlash undoubtedly stems from the fairly extreme jump in compensation for EA executives: according to documents filed with the SEC in June (via Ars Technica), Jorgensen's total compensation for fiscal year 2020, including salary, equity compensation, and other awards, will increase from last year's 9.4 million to $19.5 million, and Moss' total compensation will increase to $14.3 million from $7 million the previous year.

CEO Andrew Wilson will receive $21.4 million, a larger but more modest increase from $18.3 million in 2019; Chief Studio Officer Laura Miele will receive $16.1 million (up from $7 million), Chief Marketing Officer Chris Bruzzo at $7.2 million, a relatively modest increase from $6.4 million in 2019.

"Shareholders have made a clear rebuke of Electronic Arts' deeply flawed executive compensation practices that do not incentivize executives to create long-term value," Dieter Weisenegger, executive director of CtW Investment Group, said in a statement. He stated." This vote is a clear call for the board to stop tacking on awards to top executives and to ensure that it develops a pay philosophy that focuses on developing and retaining talent throughout all levels of the company."

Dieter Weizenegger, executive director of CtW Investment Group, issued a statement.

Despite CtW's frustration with EA's poor performance, the most recent quarterly earnings report was strong, with net bookings (net value of products and services sold digitally and physically) for the last 12 months up 17% year over year to $5.98 billion, total net revenue for the quarter of $1.46 billion and up from $1.2 billion in the same period of 2019.

The "advisory vote" on the proposed compensation package is resounding but non-binding: it is up to EA's board of directors to ultimately approve or reject the plan.