Nintendo had a very ugly day yesterday. The company reported a loss for the quarter, lamented the slow start for the 3DS (and cut the price on the handheld), and perhaps worst of all, slashed its annual profits estimate by 82%. Investors did not react kindly to the discouraging news.
As noted by Bloomberg, Nintendo shares plunged 12 percent to 12,290 yen at the 3:10 p.m. close on the Osaka Securities Exchange. The financial site pointed out that that's the biggest drop since January 2009 for the gaming giant and it's actually Nintendo's lowest close since before the Wii console was introduced in November 2006. Overall, Nintendo is down around 40% for the year so far and the Wii U becoming a big success has suddenly gained even more importance.
Obviously the buck stops with Nintendo President and other high level Nintendo management. Iwata took responsibility for his company's performance in a shareholders meeting where he announced pay cuts for himself and others. "For cuts in fixed salaries, I'm taking a fifty percent cut, other representative directors are taking a 30 percent cut, and other execs are taking a 20 percent cut," said Iwata [thanks Kotaku].
Iwata is highly compensated at around $2 million, but that's actually "low" when compared to some American CEOs.
