At $7.8 billion, which Japanese businessman has the country's highest net worth? A gambling kingpin? A Warren Buffet-style investor? A new-economy entrepreneur?
Nope. According to Forbes, it's 80-year-old Hiroshi Yamauchi, former president of Nintendo and the man credited with turning the company from a small-time playing card manufacturer into the video games giant now dominating the console market.
Yamauchi stepped down in 2005 after 55 years at Nintendo, but still owns significant stock in the Japanese company, propelling him to an impressive $2.5 billion in income. Not bad for a retiree, eh? Yamauchi even felt sufficiently secure that he refused a multi-million dollar pension, reportedly stating that the company could put it to better use.
Of course, if we're looking at the comparative wealth of games company execs, Yamauchi has a little way to go before he reaches the top spot: Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft and the world's third richest man, has a net worth almost eight times greater, at $58 billion.
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