Former Nintendo President Retiring from the Board of Directors

[JFo]

Read about it here.

 

After three years on the board, Yamauchi has decided that enough is enough, and will be leaving Nintendo for good. At the next shareholders meeting on June 29, the announcement that Yamauchi will be retiring from the company will be made. For the first time in 56 years, he will no longer have any direct input in the actions Nintendo as a company takes, although he will still own 10% of Nintendo stock, and stay connected with Nintendo's dealings as a consultant.

 

This may not seem like a big deal at first, considering that he has already stepped down from his role as president of the company, but there were some rumblings that he was still the one running it. With him out of the picture, it will be interesting to see if the new president, Sataro Iwata, decides to stay the course of his predecessor or will be bold enough to chart a new course for the company. I actually have my doubts that this will happen. I think Yamauchi picked him because the two share a similar vision for Nintendo and the industry in general. However, with the old man gone for good now, you never know what will happen.

[Camp]

This is certainly a symbolic end of an era. Yamauchi was such a personality and so important to Nintendo's rise and dominance in the 80's-90's. I'll miss him just for his fiery attitude and bizzare statements. He's a very unique man.

 

That said, Iwata certainly shares some of Yamauchi's ability to shock the industry with off-the-wall statements.