The Yamauchi No. 10 Family Office is supporting a management buyout of software firm Japan Systems Co., Bloomberg is reporting. While this news doesn't directly impact Nintendo, it's an interesting development which involves the legacy of one of the firm's most important figures.
A "family office" is a term given to a group which holds full administrative control of the investment or assets owned by a private individual. Yamauchi No. 10 Family Office manages more than 100 billion yen ($972 million) in assets previously controlled by Nintendo CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi, who died in 2013. Yamauchi was believed to be Nintendo's largest shareholder at the time of his passing, with around 10% of the company; he was the person who guided the company through one of its most successful transitions, moving from toy firm to video game giant.
The objective is to support the buyout of Japan Systems, which could be valued as highly as 15 billion yen. The deal would make the company private, and runs counter to a rival takeover offer from a Hong Kong-based investment firm.
It remains to be seen if this will work, but Japan Systems’s management team, led by President Tomohiro Kawada, plans to establish a "special purpose vehicle" for the buyout – and the Yamauchi No. 10 Family Office could contribute as much as 3.5 billion yen, according to sources. However, Kawada may also need to use additional bank loans to finance the deal.
Predictably, Japan Systems' share price has risen in light of the news.
According to Bloomberg's company database, Japan Systems "develops application software for governments, financial, distribution, and manufacturing companies. The Company develops packaged software for local government agencies. Japan Systems also sells network-related equipment." One of its key products is the ARCACLAVIS Ways "authentication security solution" which uses face recognition, biometric information and one-time passwords to enhance security.
The company was founded in 1969 and currently employs 580 people.
[source bloomberg.com]
Comments 37
Bowser is always up to somthing.
Whut? I read it, but I don’t understand how this related to Nintendo (except for the Yamauchi connection). What does Japan Systems do?
@Ryan_Again I'm with you no idea what the point of this article was.
@Ryan_Again I thought was just me!!! I read it, but....
Oh look.
Nintendolife.com now does business articles.
So what's your thoughts on Paperchase being on the brink of administration? How do you think they can avoid this?
I'm sure the business world would be dying to know what Nintendolife.com makes of this.
Please do tell us.
@Razer We've always done business pieces related to Nintendo:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/11/nintendo_adding_sharp_as_switch_manufacturing_partner_could_boost_q4_sales_year-on-year
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/08/nintendo_is_reportedly_japans_richest_company_of_2020
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/07/nintendos_directors_earn_a_relatively_modest_wage_compared_to_other_industry_execs
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/06/nintendo_shares_soar_to_highest_point_in_more_than_a_decade
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/04/nintendo_is_the_next_disneyplus_says_activist_investor_which_now_has_a_usd1_1_billion_stake
Thanks for the comment, though!
I’ve no idea what this means 🤷🏻♂️
@Ryan_Again It has no link, just a slow news day and forced daily article quotas.
Never forget:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/06/random_nintendo_switch_fans_react_to_the_pc_port_of_persona_4_golden
@Ryan_Again The "Family Office" of Yamauchi is the link; that office oversees the assets of the late Nintendo CEO, Hiroshi Yamauchi, who is one of the most important people in the history of the company.
@Ryan_Again OMG I'm glade somewon said it first I was going to but I thought I would look foolish, But now reading it its FAR of from nintendo.
Possibly the most pointless article I have ever seen on this website.
Give @Damo a break, people. As far as filler peripherals go, I'll take this stuff over "leaks and rumours from credible but resolutely unnamed sources" any day.
And for all we know, Switch's successor might happen to have a fingerprint lock contributed by Japan systems someday, linking the Yamauchi name to Nintendo even now in the Trolling Twenties.
Uh @Damo, no offense but I'm too stupid to understand this, can you please put it so an idiot like me can understand the article?
@HotGoomba___Rebrand The Yamauchi office controls the assets of former Nintendo CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi. You might have heard of him
"ARCACLAVIS Ways"
They sure know how to come up with a catchy product name!
@AJDarkstar
People are saying this now. But they never complain about the countless and pointless Reggie articles.
Sounds to me like Yamauchi's heritage is being used to fight off a Chinese hostile takeover of Japanese security and surveillance tech. In other words: Nintendo's late CEO is protecting Japan from Big Brother China. Did that clear it up for some of you?
@Jakiboy That might have something to do with some people not knowing who Yamauchi is
Also @Damo don't let them talk you down, I really enjoyed finding this in my timeline, it's a nice distraction.
While interesting to some, I'm guessing this sort of stuff is far too "inside baseball" for any layman.
I spent a full minute trying to decipher the headline before clicking on this article, not going to lie, but that's just me being thick.
@Damo
I think it's just the usual moany people being negative again. Nothing wrong with this article, and it does have a Nintendo link. I personally like the more "offbeat" articles here.
@Ooyah Thanks for the positive feedback! I thought it was interesting as there's a strong link to Yamauchi, and the cash he'd gains during his time with Nintendo.
@Damo @MergonTheShade I think the same. An enjoyable short read. I could see the connection.
I sincerely don't mean that as criticism, but it's a good habit to make of skipping articles that don't look like you would be interested
Why is this on here?
@TheLightSpirit Japan Systems is referenced in the final paragraph
So much anger over an article some people need to chill out. If you aren't interested in the content that is fair enough but calling it pointless just because it doesn't involve something you will get excited about means your expectations of what should or shouldn't be classed as news is a bit lopsided.
@Damo Seems people are also glossing over how the article mentions Yamauchi's connection to Nintendo.
@Severian Sadly, yep. I honestly do think that some people are totally unaware of his legacy.
@TheLightSpirit No worries!
@Damo Thank you, Damo. The article is justified seeing as how Yamauchi is such a big part of the DNA to Nintendo. But I feel it lacked context to say "this isn't really about Nintendo, but loosely connected". I'd like to explain my confusion. I saw the image, and read the title, and actually felt alarm, like "is there some hostile corporate shenanigans against Nintendo?" then I read the article, and was left confused. Probably because two of the major players of the article (Yamauchi's family trust, and Japan Systems) are total unknown entities to me and don't directly affect Nintendo (in the way I care about). Still, I love this site, read it daily. Thank you for your articles.
Doesn't "family office" have a more common connotation....?
Wow....Nintendo has really screwed over specialty media. We've gone from all-ACNH all-the-time, to not much at all, to just reposting the good stories from the past year, to.....Japanese business stories that happen to involve the family of the 80's & 90's company president.
I for one would also like writeups on the lunch choices of Minoru Arakawa.
Not really NL's fault, but it's just kinda depressing to see Push Square and PXB having daily stories on....console related news, game related news, and related content, and NL is literally down to copy and pasting and talking about the Nikkei.
I actually liked the article. Interesting to know what the Yamauchi family is doing these days.
As someone who is interested in both Nintendo and ‘bizness’, I found this article interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I was expecting this to be about somebody trying to do one of those hostile takeovers of Nintendo.
@Ooyah Arcaclavis sounds like a medical tool of sorts.
Edit: The woman in the Japan Systems image is beautiful.
People be nice.
1sth you do not need to understand everything.
2nd if it happens to you too often, consider educating yourself.
I really liked the article but could be tagged with something like "Business" and "not game related", alternatively make clear directly that Japanese Systems is not in the video game business. I spent reading the interesting article thinking Yamauchi's family office nr 10 were investing in a video game company and felt a bit tricked
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