Activision Blizzard says it plans to fire its CFO for an unspecified cause
- The company did not provide a specific reason for the announcement about Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann but said it is "unrelated to the company's financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures."
- Shares of Activision Blizzard have fallen 26 percent this year.
Activision Blizzard shares moved down 1 percent in after-hours trading on Monday after the company said that it has informed its chief financial officer, Spencer Neumann, that it plans to let him go. For now he has been placed on a paid leave of absence.
Activision announced on Wednesday that Dennis Durkin would come back as CFO. He was CFO at the company from 2012 to 2017.
While Activision Blizzard made those assertions in a regulatory filing, Reuters reported that a source familiar with the matter told the news wire Neumann had been poached by Netflix to become the steaming giant's new CFO. The video game company declined to comment on that report.
The news comes after a rough year for the gaming company, whose shares have fallen 26 percent in 2018. Last month the company's stock fell 10 percent after it reported a decline in its number of users.
The plan to terminate Neumann, who joined in 2017 after a stint at Disney, is "unrelated to the Company's financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures," according to the filing. Neumann will have a chance to argue that there isn't reason to terminate his employment. But effective Tuesday, the company's chief corporate officer, Dennis Durkin, will take on CFO responsibilities.
Neumann, 48, received $9.47 million in total compensation in Activision Blizzard's most recent fiscal year, a filing says. He sits on the board of the nonprofit Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.
The company declined to comment.
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