Former Nintendo President in Top 20 Rich List

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.