Activision Blizzard loses its second executive in a week

Activision Blizzard is down a second chief financial officer this week. The publisher terminated its CFO, Spencer Neumann, early in the week, and now Blizzard’s CFO, Amrita Ahuja, is leaving for Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s mobile payment company, Square.

“In Amrita, we have found an amazing, multidimensional business leader,” said Dorsey. “Amrita brings the ability to consider and balance opportunities across our entire business, and she will help strengthen our discipline as we invest, build, and scale.”

Ahuja joined Activision Blizzard eight years ago, becoming Blizzard’s CFO only last March. 2018 wasn’t a stellar year for the company, which saw shares drop by 26 percent in 2018. Declining user numbers also contributed to a 10 percent drop in November. It’s been a bit tumultuous.

Blizzard president Mike Morhaime left the developer last year, and it’s reportedly paying staff to leave in order to cut costs. At the end of 2018, Blizzard also announced it was scaling back Heroes of the Storm, moving developers onto other projects and shelving the Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm tournaments.

TOPICS

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.