we are going to be talking to activision blizzard ceo bobby kotick in a first on cnbc interview.n't go anywhere. [music playing] ♪ imagine something of your very own. ♪ ♪ something you can have and hold. ♪ ♪ i'd build a road in gold just to have some dreaming, ♪ ♪ dreaming is free. ♪ accenture, let there be change. >>> welcome back, everybody. activision blizzard, the developer and publisher of video games reporting fourth quarter earnings last night, beating on revenue amid concerns over the company's proposed $70 billion acquisition by microsoft activision blizzard's ceo bobby kotick joins us right now for his first television interview in quite some time bobby, it's good to see you here on set >> thanks for having me. >> thanks for coming in. >> first, congratulations on the numbers. i think there were a lot of questions about whether people were still playing video games or just getting back out there again. i think the answer is, they were playing "call of duty" and a few other of your titles >> they were playing "call of duty," "candy crush," "world of w warcraft," but i th

activision blizzard's ceo bobby kotick joins us now. the first 10 days of call of duty, you made $1 million and that was without a single micro transaction, people will purchase extras to play the game. it is absolutely incredible. give us a window into how that happened. >> we have extra ordinary studios and extraordinary teams, the people who work on these projects are the most inspired, talented people in the world and they have been doing this for a long time, accredited their success. liz: the numbers, here they go, in game monetization, $5.38 billion versus 5. one year over year, that's not what others in the industry have been doing so something is different. >> the industry is a $200 billion business. if you think of the last 10 years how the industry has changed, we never had chinese competitors, these are extraordinary companies with a lot of vision and creativity. great competitors, we never would have expected when you play on apple, iphone, android, that is where the bulk of the growth in the industry has come and what used

also, bobby kotick sending out a note to employees talking about how with any transaction of this sizehe normal evaluation process and opens the door to talk about various commitments microsoft can make to try and assuage concerns bobby kotick was here yesterday on "squawk box" and laid out some of the very thoughts just talking about how this industry is much bigger than just consoles, how so much of it has gone to mobile at this point, and there is the anticipation that consoles are not going to be the way forward they look at a lot of different competitors, he lays this out in this commentary too, everybody from apple, amazon, facebook, sony, tencent, a lot of different competitors here this deal is getting a close look from regulators in the eu and the uk where the cma has the last word because there is no appeals process. >> yeah, antitrust, and the teeth are back we'll see how long that lasts. might change a little, i guess, with the change in congress. but certainly front and center, can anyone merge >> that's the question the entire industry, not just the industry, but business

but you do have to get ready for the idea that bobby kotick may be coming back to run this company andhat its fundamental value is going to be that doesn't mean microsoft not going to make efforts. they've got some time. the final with cma is not for some time yet, but it would appear, again, a very difficult -- many difficult decisions for them to make they may get a positive ruling from the eu that could conceivably help their case a bit, but it seems a lot more likely today, jim, that activision is going to be an independent company again, run by bobby kotick, and i'll leave you to tell the investors what it's worth >> take two had a far inferior quarter, and yet the stock was up gigantically. blockbuster, "call of duty," couple other games, candy crush, crushing it. they have been in limbo and it's time to buy more i think this is a terrific -- may be one of the best situations out there because the gaming business is starting to come back, and the best way to play it is the one that's the king, which is activision blizzard. so, carl, i don't know i think it's a great opportunity.

activision ceo bobby kotick will be with us tomorrow. ♪. larry: hello, folks, welcome to "kudlow."iden's state of the union address which is tomorrow night, joe biden's trapped in two major untruths. both of them are att

and we have an interview with bobby kotick tomorrow right here on "squawk box."know, mid 30s, couple of kids, recently went through a divorce. she had a lot of questions when she came in. i watched my mother go through being a single mom. at the end of the day, my mom raised three children, including myself. and so once the client knew that she was heard. we were able to help her move forward. your client won't care how much you know until they know how much you care. the hiring process used to be the death of me. but with upwork... with upwork the hiring process is fast and flexible. behold... all that talent! ♪ this is how we work now ♪ >>> want to get down to the new york stock exchange. jim cramer joins us now. good morning, jim. monday morning -- >> you got some good guests coming up. you have bobby kotick tomorrow. >> we have a lot of good guests coming up tomorrow. >> activision blizzard, you can ask him point-blank if he's walking away. >> what would you do, by the way, jim >> i think the stock would go higher at this point i would walk away. i know i thi

bobby kotick running it, returning that $12 billion to shareholders that's why atv i has held up so wellmore than 15% this year. will their sponsorship of the super bowl halftime give it the boost necessary to take on names like spotify and other competitors? before we go to break, take a look at bonds today as we do await a couple big tent pole macrodata points back in a minute >>> last night was the first super bowl with apple as an official sponsor of the halftime show take a look at apple shares today, up fractionally, up now more than 16% year-to-date and outperforming the nasdaq in that same period. our next guest believes the stock is in the midst of a relief rally joining us this morning, tom forte. great to have you back i am curious if we're in a period where near-term supply-demand dynamics are kind of cloudy, is the sponsorship of the show -- i mean, is it thematically interesting to you, directionally interesting in terms of what apple has in mind? >> i think it's definitely interesting. what you had was a match made in marketing heaven you had the biggest hype event from a