Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has engaged in years-long legal battles and brawled over sums of money far eclipsed by the cost of lawyers, court records show.
The cases have coincided with a number of key moments in his career. wapo.st/3GDiEGg
Former business partner Howard Marks described Kotick as always ready to scrap for virtually meaningless amounts of money.
One arbitrator described Kotick’s strategy as being more concerned with vengeance than business. wapo.st/3GDiEGg
In 2007, a flight attendant for Kotick’s private jet sued, accusing him of firing her after she reported being harassed by a pilot.
Kotick undertook what an arbitrator later described as a “scorched earth defense.” wapo.st/3GDiEGg
He spent more than $2 million on the legal saga his attorneys allegedly advised could have been settled early on for a tenth of that.
That dispute could be seen as a precursor to the recent allegations towards Activision Blizzard. wapo.st/3GDiEGg
If Kotick leaves Activision Blizzard as expected next year, it will be with stock holdings currently worth around $400 million.
That reinforces what was long recognized by those who know him: Even when he loses, it’s on his terms. wapo.st/3GDiEGg
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Monobob requires fast legs, expert driving and multitasking — at 75 mph wapo.st/3BhKve6
Monobob is one of the newest Olympic sports. Compared with two- and four-person sleds, the pilots are busier, the ride is bouncier and the team’s wealth — or lack of it — makes little difference.
The Winter Olympics feature quite possibly the most extensive (and expensive) collection of sporting equipment in the world.
You’re often only as good as your equipment. Your gear is your everything. wapo.st/347UtCN
More than perhaps any other sporting event (at least those without internal combustion engines), the Winter Olympics and Paralympics are tests not only of athletic achievement but of design and engineering.
When Mikaela Shiffrin started down the slalom course in Yanqing, she was intentionally aggressive.
Her 47 World Cup victories and 2014 Olympic gold medal prove that she knows how to win a slalom, perhaps better than anyone else in the world. wapo.st/3GG51pV
Slalom is the Alpine discipline with the most turns, and skiers try to keep as straight a line as possible through the gates.
The turns are set close enough that there is little room for error. But at the fourth gate, Shiffrin slipped. wapo.st/3GG51pV
When Shiffrin is skiing her best slalom runs, her lower legs attack the turns — transferring pressure quickly from the inside edge of one outside ski to the inside edge of the next outside ski — while her upper body remains remarkably stable. wapo.st/3GG51pV
"These kinds of pledges are not at all unusual. There were nominations for certain parts of the country or religion ... There's a certain hypocrisy here and a sort of failure to note that these are always political decisions," says @scotusreporter. twitter.com/i/spaces/1lPKq…
“Belfast”
“The Power of the Dog”
“West Side Story”
“Licorice Pizza”
“Dune”
“King Richard”
“CODA”
“Don’t Look Up”
“Drive My Car”
“Nightmare Alley” wapo.st/336OUUt
Best actress:
Nicole Kidman, “Being the Ricardos”
Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
Olivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”
Penelope Cruz, “Parallel Mothers”
Kristen Stewart, “Spencer”