Having $2.1 billion in the bank would make us very happy indeed, but that amount of cash can only secure you 13th place in Japan's rich list, according to Forbes.
Former Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi used to be sitting pretty at the top of Japan's richest people, but his fortunes have slipped in recent times, thanks largely to Nintendo's struggling share price.
Yamauchi — who remains Nintendo's largest shareholder — ran the firm for 55 years before his retirement in 2005. His personal wealth saw a drop for second straight year thanks to Nintendo's share price heading south to the tune of 17%.
[source gonintendo.com, via forbes.com]
Comments 30
Nintendo's shares have dropped but I'd imagine the amount that Yamauchi owns also has.
Looks like it's soup and crackers for a while in the Yamauchi household.
@Burning_Spear How can he feed his family off of that?!?!
Anyone buying shares in Nintendo must be ecstatic - when Ninty's fortunes inevitably turn they'll be in for a massive windfall!
It'll pass...
He is still incredibly rich even with dropping in rank.
you know he could send some of that money to help out poor children in bosnia =/ but greed is a disease that will never go away, so i wish him further luck.
He may be 13th on the list, but I sure wouldn't mind having 2.1 billion dollars in the bank! I'D BUY LOTSA VIDYA GAMEZ!
My initial reaction is sucks to be him.
Poor baby
@BestBuck123 #8
It almost died when he was in charge.
Bad, but I think he's still richer than my country's richest person. Can't wait until WiiU's fortunes turn around!
Sucks to be him, I guess. :3
I was going to start a 'JustGiving' donation page for this poor guy but then I thought he probably bought Bitcoins or Gold with all the Wii/DS money and has hidden it away so he'll be ok.
Iwata San is married to his daughter, is he not? Which would mean that Iwata's inheritance gets directly affected by his own performance as Mr. Nintendo..... must've been an awkward Easter celebration in that house this year!
If he owns the largest proportion of Nintendo shares, I wonder how much Iwata owns?
Forgive me if I've got my history wrong, but wasn't this guy like, really ignorant and crappy when he was president? If he's got the biggest share that might be why Nintendo acts so stupidly sometimes.
I bet Iwata is getting backhanded as we speak.
Oh no, he's about to donwngrade to a millionaire!
13th place is still very impressive!
@Frapp The traditional Japanese diet is far healthier than most diets of the modern day Westerner. Even with all the stress and anger he has demonstrated throughout his lifetime, due to his high pressure business history, Yamauchi still yet appears to be in his 70s of age, yet he is about 85 years old to date.
@Nintenjoe64 The previous President of Nintendo of America, Minoru Arakawa, is the one who married Yamauchi's daughter.
Also, very few Japanese celebrate Easter; most of them are not religious theists in the Western or Middle Eastern sense, though many identify with a mix of Shintoism and Buddhism...
@DerpSandwich If anything, Yamauchi was a business genius. He made some interesting decisions, especially leading up to the NES, which no one else at Nintendo agreed with him would work well- yet they did. He had an uncanny business knack for what things would sell. However, he was also a ruthless and unforgiving leader...
He has the biggest share because he inherited Nintendo from his relatives, back when it was still a card company...
@ajcismo @Blaze Funny thing about that... Yamauchi is a part of the "Top 1% of Wealth" which so many people blame for all the world's ails...
He could feed half of Africa. Maybe even 3/4's of Africa. He should give 2 billion of it to Africa to feed those that are starving. But greed and pride are the worst diseases.
@biglittlejake Vanity is the King of all spiritual diseases.
@GreenDream I'd take a bit of criticism over starving to death, personally.
Boohoo.
Poor guy. I hope he'll make it.
I guess the drinks aren't on him tonight.
@Frapp Or perhaps there's simply less. Less Contaminats/pollutants... And let's not for get fluoride.
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