The money is conditional that Activision's board sees improvement in company culture. Measured improvements would include the implementation of a zero-tolerance harassment plan and an increase in hiring women and non-binary people.

Given that would not be necessarily had Kotick been working for someone else, it does rather seem that Vole is paying the guy who made the mess which devalued his company is being massive amounts of cash to make it go away. Some of Activision Blizzard’s staff would prefer that the problems would go away and that Kotick was strung up from the company roof alongside the mates he so roundly defended.

To be fair, Kotick took a pay cut in October in response to the company's scandals and said he was forgoing bonuses until the board saw improvement.  However, it seems that Activision Blizzard may extend Kotick's contract by 12 months beyond its current March 2023 expiration. Kotick was not expected to remain at the company long after the merger. So this could have all been agreed with Vole in advance, so his dramatic gesture was more spin. 

Even if Kotick can’t clean up Activision Blizzard's act and ends up fired without cause by Microsoft, he will get a $15 million "golden parachute."

The filing reveals that Microsoft gaming executive Phil Spencer began talks with Kotick about a potential acquisition on 19 November, three days after a Wall Street Journal expose that said Kotick knew of sexual misconduct at the company for years.