Former Nintendo President in Top 20 Rich List

Yamauchi still riding high

Posted by Staff
Hiroshi Yamauchi
Hiroshi Yamauchi
Hiroshi Yamauchi, ex-Nintendo president, is still officially rolling in loot, according to the latest Forbes rich list. Two years after his retirement, he is thought to be worth in the region of $1.46 billion, making him Japan’s 17th richest man. Not bad for a fellow who sits with his feet up in front of Water Colour Challenge and Countdown, enjoying flurries of GBA activity and tea-sipping during commercial breaks. Of course, that’s not really how he spends his time. It can’t be. In 2001, Yamauchi was worth $2.9 billion, implying that he’s frittered away nearly $1.5 billion over the last three years. At that rate of spending, he’ll be flat broke by 2007.

Joking aside, it is a huge amount of money by any measure, and it just goes to show that the games industry can indeed be a source of infinite riches. But just as the Sammy Sega takeover foretold, videogames are not the most profitable sector in Japan’s electronic entertainment scene. Kazuo Okada, president of Aruze, netted $3.5 with his pachinko-orientated manufacturing chain, making him the 9th richest man in Japan and the 116th richest man on the planet.
Companies:
People:

Comments

omer48912 2 Jun 2004 11:45
1/3
Some people in video game industry do get rich i just hope that people who get rich from this business are not from Sony or Microsoft.

schnide 2 Jun 2004 12:43
2/3
Hello Spong, and welcome to Economics 101. The fact that Yamauchi was worth the previous amount does not mean he ever had that much money and therefore the fact that he is worth less now does not mean he's spent it.

He is worth less because he's not the President of Nintendo anymore. Done.
config 2 Jun 2004 13:55
3/3
I think you missed the "joking aside"...

Posting of new comments is now locked for this page.