Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata died over the weekend, the company has just announced. He was 55. A short
statement released by the Japanese gaming
giant said: “Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that
President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile
duct growth.”
Iwata, who was also CEO of the company’s U.S. unit, had surgery to
remove the growth in 2014 before returning to work in the same year. Iwata joined Nintendo as a director in 2000. Two years later, he
became the company’s fourth president in its 126-year history, and the
first to come from outside of the family that founded the business.
Nintendo said Monday that senior managing directors Genyo Takeda and
Shigeru Miyamoto will run the company until Iwata’s successor is chosen.
