Hiroshi Yamauchi
Overview
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
businessman. He was the third president of Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, joining the company in 1949 until stepping down on May 31, 2002, to be succeeded by Satoru Iwata
Satoru Iwata
is the fourth president of Nintendo, succeeding the long-standing previous president of the company, Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002. He was responsible in great part for defining Nintendo's strategy both before and during the release of its Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001, a vision which...
. Yamauchi is credited with transforming Nintendo from a small hanafuda
Hanafuda
are playing cards of Japanese origin that are used to play a number of games. The name literally translates as "flower cards". The name also refers to games played with those cards.-History:...
card-making company in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to today's multi-billion dollar video game company. He also became the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...
baseball team in 1992, which is now managed by former Nintendo of America
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
chairman Howard Lincoln
Howard Lincoln
Howard Charles Lincoln is an American lawyer and businessman, known primarily for being the former chairman of Nintendo of America and the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Seattle Mariners baseball team, representing absentee majority owner Hiroshi Yamauchi...
.
As of 2008, Yamauchi is the third richest person in Japan and 149th richest in the world, having a net worth of approximately $7.8 billion.
Hiroshi was sent to a preparatory school in Kyoto at age twelve and had planned to study law or engineering but World War II disrupted his studies.