[pfdietz]

Until 2013, Blizzard was at least partially shielded from Kotick by specific terms in the corporate bylaws that gave the board (read: Vivendi, which had a controlling interest) power over Kotick on such things as the Blizzard budget, firing of Blizzard executives, and go/no-go decisions on Blizzard games.

All that went away when Kotick engineered the buyout of Vivendi's shares. This also led to considerable corporate debt, which Activision-Blizzard has been servicing and paying down since.