Satoru Iwata
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
A programmer from HAL Laboratory, he became a Director of Nintendo in June 2000. Internally he served as head of the Corporate Planning Department, a position overseeing both development and management. As of the fiscal year ended March 2006, Hiroshi Yamauchi was the largest shareholder with 10.0% held personally, followed by trust banks and the Bank of Kyoto with stakes in the 4-5% range. Iwata ran the company as a professional manager without the backing of a shareholding.
Selection
On May 31, 2002, Hiroshi Yamauchi handed the presidency to Iwata, 32 years his junior. Taking office at 42, he was the first President from outside the founding family, ending four generations of Yamauchi family management. The previous year Yamauchi had indicated he would not pass the post down within the family, saying there was no suitable candidate among his relatives. In the fiscal year ended March 2002, the year before he took office, consolidated net sales were ¥554.8 billion and ordinary income ¥186.6 billion. The choice appears to have been meant to put a game creator at the head of the company.
Initiatives
In December 2004 the company launched the dual-screen, touch-panel Nintendo DS, and in 2006 the motion-controlled home console Wii. On the strength of these two hits, consolidated net sales reached ¥1,838.6 billion in the fiscal year ended March 2009. The successor consoles did not take off, and the company posted an operating loss of ¥37.3 billion and a net loss of ¥43.2 billion in the FY ended March 2012, and another operating loss of ¥46.4 billion in the FY ended March 2014. In 2015 it formed a capital and business alliance with DeNA, opening the way to bring its own IP to smart devices.
Career
Career
Nintendo
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Jun 2000 | Director |
| May 2002 | President, Representative Director |
| Jun 2013 | Chairman, Nintendo of America Inc. |
| Jul 2015 | 社長在任中に逝去 (translation pending) |