Nintendo President taking himself a 50% wage cut due to poor performance.. no firing of employees

[GoodBytes]

Here is something I like about Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo.

When he fails, he cuts massively his own wage, and not firing employees due to his poor decision

Satoru Iwata took a 50% wage cuts due to the 30% reduction in profit this years for Nintendo, reports The Verge.

Also, he cuts the wage of all executives by 20 to 30%.

More CEO's and presidents should take example on this is how you run a business. You don't fire employees because you (the CEO/president) poor decision making, and give yourself a bonus at the end.

I bet employee morale is boosted by such action, and a good moral boost productivity and creativity.

 

Nintendo's Satoru Iwata announced he will slash his pay in half following a 30 percent slump in profit over the nine-month fiscal period ending Dec. 31, 2013.

Speaking to reporters, the Nintendo President said he will receive a reduced salary for five months in the wake of the third quarter results. Other Nintendo executives will take a pay cut between 20 and 30 percent.

Earlier this month, the company announced its expectations for a third consecutive annual operating loss after previously forecasting its return to profit. The company expects to lose 33.4 billion yen for the final quarter of the year, with a total operating loss of 35 billion yen ($355 million) for 2013.

Source: http://www.polygon.com/2014/1/29/5356812/nintendo-boss-satoru-iwata-will-cut-pay-in-half-after-poor-fiscal

[sonarctica]

Good guy Satoru Iwata

[MatheusSanzo]

That was a nice decision but i bet the executives didn't liked it...

[felixbearpig]

its japan, they have more honor than some other countries out there

[Ashaira]

I'll say this until it is either confirmed or denied.

 

Please please please let that leaked console from nintendo be true. Do it Iwata and all is forgiven.

[Bad2049]

Now that is why I always loved Nintendo!! Thanks for the nice posting as well.

[Sidiox]

THis is great. Finally a president of a company (or country) that realises that he also should help in reducing the money spent. Good guy!

[MeltyMoon]

That's actually amazing. Mad props to Iwata for that decision.

[Warcony]

How they can fix their problems:

 

Step 1: Port games to other platforms

Step 2: ???

Step 3: Profit

 

But seriously, legit guy for doing this.

[chillxnate]

Wow. CEO of the year right here. Forget about the poor sales numbers, this guys a boss.

[Verne]

This is one thing I admire about the japanese culture. In most western countries the trend is to fire people in order to be able to pay executives more if something goes sideways.

[BallGum]

Huge respect for him now.

On the topic of what Nintendo should or shouldn't do to survive, I'd say continue with the Wii U by adding more games. Advance Wars on the Gamepad would be awesome!

Making a new console would be too much of an investment, and if they port software to other platforms they'd have to completely give up from hardware.

[applebook]

Good for him! Unlike HP, which makes a monumental $2bn mistake with webOS and then fires thousands of its employees, while the directors who made the mistakes are still basting in their tubs of fat.

[Echodamus]

So he only makes what, 50 million a year now? Poor guy!

[GoodBytes]

Huge respect for him now.

On the topic of what Nintendo should or shouldn't do to survive, I'd say continue with the Wii U by adding more games. Advance Wars on the Gamepad would be awesome!

Making a new console would be too much of an investment, and if they port software to other platforms they'd have to completely give up from hardware.

I fully agree. The big reason why Sega failed, is that were releasing new console and add-on every couple of month... consumer decided to just wait.. even with the Dreamcast, when Sega FINALLY said, no more.. consumer lost confidence and decided to still wait, wait and see what the competition had to offer. Still being hurt by Sega quick release of consoles, people lost trust in the company, and switch. The WiiU is doing better than the GameCube. So that is some good news for Nintendo.

What they need to do is change their marketing strategy. Stop targeting casual gamers. Focus on the people who knows about the WiiU, and go for the hardcore. I think Nintendo knew that they might be doing this, as they are publishing a game that goes with everything against Nintendo root and image (fun family friendly), Beyoneta 2. This is a good start, with Mario Kart and Smash brothers things should be picking up WITH correct marketing. No correct marketing and all this work, even if it was Halo, would not be a success. I am seeing more and more kickstaer games going with a WiiU version goal, and it seams to be reason them. So there is market for indi games on the WiiU, and it known that Nintendo is essential giving away the WiiU for indi's, at 'only' 2000$ (it's really cheap compared to Sony and Microsoft), and does not require an office, or anything. Just at least a solid safe to keep the WiiU dev kit inside when not in use. I think the reason for this is Nintendo easy to program and proper documentation attacks indies.

Third party support on the WiiU is mostly useless. It is a must, but why you would play Call of duty inferior version and less fancy graphics on the WiiU, when you can play on the PS4 or XBox One, let alone PC? Nintendo is lucky to have Activations and Ubisoft that sees the potential of the console, and are willing to take a "small" loss by porting select games on it, even if sales of them are normally too low to justify this action. Nintendo has good friends, and Nintendo should not take that for granted.

Another thing they can do, is improve further the online infrastructure. The WiiU online experience is MASSIVELY better than the Wii's. But it's sadly still behind. If they must have a paying service to be as competitive as the others, then so be it. But I think it will help things... if nothing else, at least the image of the console, which could help sales later on with future games.

[GoodBytes]

So he only makes what, 50 million a year now? Poor guy!

Assuming he does make that... when you have a big house, and a hole slew of maintenance staff, and many other expense, it really hurts you.

Also, he does $770,000 USD only, before the 50% cut. His bonus granted by the board, which is none since the WiiU launched is around 2 million dollars (with the Wii success).

Just saying. So, from 1 day you pass from 2.7million down to next at 350k only. Imagine you have 100k wage, you live comfortable in a decent house with family and kids, and the next day, you work minimum wage. Hope you have some savings.

[BallGum]

I fully agree. The big reason why Sega failed, is that were releasing new console and add-on every couple of month... consumer decided to just wait.. even with the Dreamcast, when Sega FINALLY said, no more.. consumer lost confidence and decided to still wait, wait and see what the competition had to offer. Still being hurt by Sega quick release of consoles, people lost trust in the company, and switch. The WiiU is doing better than the GameCube. So that is some good news for Nintendo.

What they need to do is change their marketing strategy. Stop targeting casual gamers. Focus on the people who knows about the WiiU, and go for the hardcore. I think Nintendo knew that they might be doing this, as they are publishing a game that goes with everything against Nintendo root and image (fun family friendly), Beyoneta 2. This is a good start, with Mario Kart and Smash brothers things should be picking up WITH correct marketing. No correct marketing and all this work, even if it was Halo, would not be a success. I am seeing more and more kickstaer games going with a WiiU version goal, and it seams to be reason them. So there is market for indi games on the WiiU, and it known that Nintendo is essential giving away the WiiU for indi's, at 'only' 2000$ (it's really cheap compared to Sony and Microsoft), and does not require an office, or anything. Just at least a solid safe to keep the WiiU dev kit inside when not in use. I think the reason for this is Nintendo easy to program and proper documentation attacks indies.

Third party support on the WiiU is mostly useless. It is a must, but why you would play Call of duty inferior version and less fancy graphics on the WiiU, when you can play on the PS4 or XBox One, let alone PC? Nintendo is lucky to have Activations and Ubisoft that sees the potential of the console, and are willing to take a "small" loss by porting select games on it, even if sales of them are normally too low to justify this action. Nintendo has good friends, and Nintendo should not take that for granted.

Another thing they can do, is improve further the online infrastructure. The WiiU online experience is MASSIVELY better than the Wii's. But it's sadly still behind. If they must have a paying service to be as competitive as the others, then so be it. But I think it will help things... if nothing else, at least the image of the console, which could help sales later on with future games.

Fact is, the original Wii was an "add on" console. People would have a 360 or PS3, and then a Wii for the first party titles. I think with the Wii U, Nintendo should build on this image, and indie support is a huge must for this to work even better. I don't care too much for visuals, and the main reason I would like a PC, aside from the odd BioShock and Quake / TF2, are the indie titles. Stuff like Minecraft and Invisible Inc are brilliant, and people would love that on a Wii, without the "hassle" of a PC.

[megadarkwood]

My brother just got a 3DS XL and Pokemon Y. I stole it from him and I've been playing it more than him 

[MzCatieB]

shame politicians and bankers dont think like this

[Echodamus]

Assuming he does make that... when you have a big house, and a hole slew of maintenance staff, and many other expense, it really hurts you.

Also, he does $770,000 USD only, before the 50% cut. His bonus granted by the board, which is none since the WiiU launched is around 2 million dollars (with the Wii success).

Just saying. So, from 1 day you pass from 2.7million down to next at 350k only. Imagine you have 100k wage, you live comfortable in a decent house with family and kids, and the next day, you work minimum wage. Hope you have some savings.

But he isn't making minimum wage. 350k a year is still a huge amount of money. So if he can't afford his house an all his fancy cars (if he has any)? He can still live lavishly off a wage like that. I mean, good on him that he is taking a cut to his own salary, but still he is leaving himself a huge chunk of change. I can't feel bad for someone making that much money. 

[That Norwegian Guy]

This just in: CEO shows minimum basic human decency, gets standing ovation!

 

This should be law.

 

Anyway, not knocking the guy, but the world is messed up if this is an exception.

[shizngiggles]

This is great and all, but most CEO's of publicly traded companies make most of their money and have most of their assets in stock holdings. For instance, Steve Jobs gave himself a salary of $1 (can't remember if it was a dollar a day or $1 for the year), but his salary was a very small percentage of his annual income and this is often the case for almost all CEO's of publicly traded companies. I still think it was a good decision on Iwata's part, but I doubt it actually made much of an impact on his annual income.

[GoodBytes]

But he isn't making minimum wage. 350k a year is still a huge amount of money. So if he can't afford his house an all his fancy cars (if he has any)? He can still live lavishly off a wage like that. I mean, good on him that he is taking a cut to his own salary, but still he is leaving himself a huge chunk of change. I can't feel bad for someone making that much money.

While I agree with you in this sense, you have to remember that his hole life style will have to change. No more going to fancy restaurants daily. Has to probably sale some of his cars (if many) due to insurance cost, cut utility bills if he is in a big house (close off room, to reduce heating/cooling cost), and so on.

The thing is that you can't ever be rich enough. The more rich you are, the more things you want, and you judge essential, then it becomes part of everyday norm. You are no longer used to this. The next day, all this fancy stuff has to go. You can no longer afford people buying food for you and your family picking the freshest and best fruits, vehicles, meat possible, so the taste is no longer as good, and things like that.

The reverse hold true. That is why, it is highly recommended, that if you win the loto. NEVER take all the money out. Take in a monthly plan for 10+ years (depending on how much you win), else you don't know what to do with the money and spend it carelessly, without realizing it how fast it will disappear, and boom you are on the street. Or and you'll have all your friends of your uncle of your dogs, of your cat, of your parent, coming at your door for money, and start hating you and insulting you for refusing. If you take it in plans, you can hide it as work promotion, and because you'll be seen as a hard worker, then people will leave you be. Of course, refuse to be on the media when you win. Obviously.

[ManxMan]

why can politicians be like this

[GoodBytes]

This is great and all, but most CEO's of publicly traded companies make most of their money and have most of their assets in stock holdings. For instance, Steve Jobs gave himself a salary of $1 (can't remember if it was a dollar a day or $1 for the year), but his salary was a very small percentage of his annual income and this is often the case for almost all CEO's of publicly traded companies. I still think it was a good decision on Iwata's part, but I doubt it actually made much of an impact on his annual income.

While true, but the Yamauchi family (founder of Nintendo) holds the big money, despite Hiroshi Yamauchi the grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi, who took over the business after his grandfather past away, turning the company form a simple card company, to this massive company it is today.

This guy (Hiroshi Yamauchi), who made Nintendo of what it is today:

He passed away last year (September 13, 2013) at age 85,. He step down after the GameCube area.