Activision Blizzard Inc. has named Dennis Durkin to the position of chief financial officer, reporting directly to CEO Bobby Kotick. Thomas Tippl, who was promoted to chief operating officer in 2010, has been fulfilling those responsibilities on an interim basis.
Tippl will continue to oversee Activision Publishing’s and Blizzard Entertainment’s operational activities as well as the company’s Strategic Planning, Global Sales and Supply Chain, IT, Legal and Human Resources departments.
Durkin (pictured) joins Activision Blizzard from Microsoft, where he most recently was corporate vice president, chief operating and financial officer of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB). During his six years on that leadership team, IEB went from an operating loss to greater than $1 billion in annual profit. Additionally, the Xbox 360 became the top-selling game console globally in 2011.
Before that, Durkin worked on Microsoft’s corporate development and strategy team, including two years where he was based in London driving pan-European activity. Having joined Microsoft in 1999, Durkin previously was a financial analyst at Alex. Brown and Co.
Kotick said: “We are very pleased to welcome Dennis to Activision Blizzard’s senior management team. Dennis joins us with more than 15 years of multinational experience in finance and operational management and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise as we continue to build our business around the world. Dennis shares our philosophy of shareholder value creation and in his new position will be able to build on our strong financial and operational foundation.”
Durkin said: “I am thrilled to join the talented team at Activision Blizzard, which has an incredible track record of consistent success. With the expansion of digital entertainment, this is an exciting time to partner with the company’s senior leaders to continue to drive future growth and increase shareholder value.”
Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., Activision Blizzard has operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea and China.
Related link:
Press release – http://tinyurl.com/7zgqpjj
