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Soundwave on 25 August 2014
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baloofarsan said:
Soundwave said:

- Iwata after being groomed since about 1999/2000 takes over as Nintendo president officially in May 2002.

http://www.n-sider.com/contentview.php?contentid=224       April 16, 2001

One year before the takeover Iwata was not talked about as a successor, in fact he was not talked about at all.

 

"While Yamauchi does not intend to announce his successor until next year at the earliest, there are a couple of possible contenders for his position. One of them is Atusho Asada, the former vice president of Sharp and now NCL's executive vice president. Another candidate is Yamauchi's right-hand man Hiroshi Imanishi, though Imanishi himself admits he is better to serve the president."

"Minoru Arakawa, the president of Nintendo of America, is another likely successor."

"Katsuhito Yamauchi, the son of the NCL chairman, had entered Nintendo in Canada, but lasted only a year, mainly because of language barriers and limited experience in the business. When it didn't work out, Arakawa helped him form a company in Vancouver that would sell Nintendo products. He has since joined his father's company and recently worked on the Pokmon movies as an associate producer. Now in his early forties, Katsuhito Yamauchi should have the sufficient experience to assume his father's hot seat."

 

 

Why should Yamauchi publicly announce who he's considering for the president position? The press was just assuming it would be either Arakawa or Katsuhito Yamauchi based on them being related to Yamauchi. 

What people should have been paying attention to was Nintendo's Board of Directors -- Satoru Iwata was quietly moved onto Nintendo's Board of Director's in June 2000 as a Director. I think Yamauchi from that point on began grooming Iwata to be the next president if he hadn't already been doing so. 

Arakawa wanted to retire for a long time, he and his wife (Yamauchi's daughter) were planning to build a big home in Hawaii for their retirement for a while so I doubt he was ever really considered for the position. Arakawa retired from Nintendo's board of directors in June 1999, that should've been a pretty huge tip off that he didn't want the job. 

Asada was also like 70+ years old himself, I think it should have been fairly obvious he there as a transitionary board member, I doubt Yamuachi seriously would consider replacing himself with someone almost as old as himself.