Activision Intends to Fire its Chief Financial Officer

Today Activision published a Form 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and it included rather surprising news.

The publisher intends to terminate the employment of its Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann. A company’s CFO is basically the second most relevant executive, in charge of finances.

According to the form, Neumann has already been notified and has been placed on paid leave of absence and has been given an unspecified amount of time to prove that his termination is not justified.

While a cause for the firing has not been mentioned, we read that it isn’t related to “the company’s financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures.” Basically, it appears that Neumann isn’t being accused of insider trading or to have revealed financial details he shouldn’t have to third parties.

Effective tomorrow, Jan, 1, Chief Corporate Officer Dennis Durkin will take over the role of Chief Financial Officer for the interim, and his new title will be confirmed if Neumann’s employment ends up being really terminated.

Activision’s shares haven’t done all that well recently, but at the moment, it’s hard to say whether this has anything to do with this tentative termination. That being said, the process appears to be still in flux until Neumann responds.