The former president of Nintendo will be leaving his chair on the board of directors for his official retirement.
Between 1949 and 2002, Hiroshi Yamauchi was the iron-fisted president of Nintendo. The gaming community was shocked when he stepped down from the top after his 53-year reign, and even more shocked to hear that Satoru Iwata, former president of HAL and only a recent addition to NCL's stable of executives, would be his replacement. Yamauchi stayed with Nintendo as a prominent member of the company's board of directors.
After three years on the board, Yamauchi has decided that enough is enough, and will be leaving Nintendo for good. At the next shareholders meeting on June 29, the announcment that Yamauchi will be retiring from the company will be made. For the first time in 56 years, he will no longer have any direct input in the actions Nintendo as a company takes, although he will still own 10% of Nintendo stock and stay connected with Nintendo's dealings as a consultant.
Normally, retiring Nintendo board members are paid a retirement pension upon leaving the company. Yamauchi, being the nice guy that he is, has elected to decline this pension, stating that the money would be better suited to be put back into the company. The exact amount isn't really known, but GameSpot reports that the amount is rumored to be something around $9-14 million. That's not all that much compared to Nintendo's $7+ billion war chest, but Yamauchi stressed that cash is important to have in the games industry.
Hiroshi Yamauchi has officially retired from Nintendo. It's truly an end of an era in the videogame industry, and there's no doubt that games wouldn't be the way they are with out him. PGC wishes Mr. Yamauchi a happy retirement.