As sweeping rounds of layoffs rock the tech, media and finance industries in 2024, some video game fans are thinking about former Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata.
Iwata ran the Kyoto, Japan-based video game company from 2002 until his death in 2015.
To avoid layoffs, Iwata took a 50% pay cut to help pay for employee salaries, saying a fully-staffed Nintendo would have a better chance of rebounding.
Iwata had faith in his talentFor Iwata, taking a pay cut over layoffs centered around his employees' ability to bounce back, Verma says.
"Nintendo [needed] to see through the changes that necessitated launching the Nintendo Switch, which has been massively profitable for the company," says Verma.
Persons:
Satoru Iwata, Iwata, Rohan Verma, —, it's, Verma, could've, Sandra Sucher, Sucher
Organizations:
Nintendo, Riot Games, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Stanford University, Harvard Business, CNBC
Locations:
Kyoto, Japan, —, U.S