Nintendo has revealed that their board of directors are taking severe pay cuts for the next few months to account for the company’s recent financial performance, and also give money back to the company.
Iwata himself will be taking a full 50 % pay cut. Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda, are taking pay cuts of 30 %, while everyone else is taking pay cuts of 20 %. These cuts are effective from February until June, at which point they will look at the business environment again and decide if they will keep these pay cuts or take other actions.
Genyo Takeda is the company’s general manager for their hardware division. Oddly enough, it’s hard to pinpoint Shigeru’s job title, but it is clear he does supervision for several games, and has a say in hardware development and other projects. Nintendo’s other board members, who are not directly involved in development, are Tatsumi Kimishima, Kaoru Takemura, Shigeyuki Takahashi, Satoshi Yamato, Susumu Tanaka, Shinya Takahashi, and Hirokazu Shinshi. Some of these board members are longtime employees, and some are part of their auditing department.
When Nintendo revealed their revised financial forecasts, Iwata insisted two weeks ago that he does not have to resign to take responsibility for Nintendo’s performance, leading many to question how he intended to do so. Now, we know how not only Iwata, but everyone at the board will do it. It may not be enough to satisfy analysts or meet financial expectations, but it is a highly laudable personal gesture, and sadly, uncommon in this day and age.
