Nintendo Finds A Temporary Successor For Satoru Iwata? Company Revises Organizational Structure

By Alex Cruz | Sep 14, 2015 11:04 AM EDT

TEXT SIZE    


Nintendo has finally appointed Tatsumi Kimishima to become the new president, following the death of Satoru Iwata in July. However, analysts think that it could be just a temporary position.

Kimishima, who has been with Nintendo since 2000, used to be the managing director of the company and in charge of corporate analysis, general affairs and the human resource division, according to BBC News. With this background, it seems that he can provide a steady leadership to the company.

The thing is, the newly appointed president is 65 years old, and some analysts say he will retire soon.

"He will retire in one or two years. This might be a temporary position," Daiwa Securities analyst Satoshi Tanaka told CNBC.

"Nintendo wants to push the company to mobile, he is not bad, but he is a very old type personality," the analyst added, referring to Kimishima's traditional background. "They need someone with a new way thinking."

Nintendo will be having a "large-scale revision" of its organizational structure, and part of its implementation is issuing the title "Creative Fellow" to the senior managing director Shigeru Miyamoto and "Technology Fellow" to Genyo Takeda, ABC News reported.

"We thought it's better that Takeda and Miyamoto manage hardware and software, and I control administration," Kimishima stated. "The new system is meant "to bring up the next-generation executives of Nintendo."

Tokyo Ace Research Institute analyst Hideki Yasuda said that Kimishima did a collective leadership approach, and that his executive experience meant that he understood the large market, as per the report of Bloomberg.

Iwata, who was the face of Nintendo for 13 years, died because of a chronic illness. He was the first president who was not part of the Yamauchi family.

The reign of Iwata tripled Nintendo's revenue via new devices and the Amiibo, interactive figurines.

Nintendo is facing tough competitors in the market, such as Xbox of Microsoft, PlayStation of Sony and iPhones and iPads of Apple.

The new organizational structure will take effect on Wednesday.

pre post  |  next post
More Sections