In the wake of poor Wii U sales (the beleaguered and under-appreciated console is about to be outsold by the much younger competitors from Sony and Microsoft) and the attendant drop in share price, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata will be temporarily halving his pay while other members of the board are taking pay cuts of 20-30%.
Nintendo have had hard times before and come back strongly, and I have no doubt they’ll manage it again (especially if they resist calls to get out of the hardware market and start making free-to-play mobile games – ewww). In the meantime though the pay cuts are a gesture not often seen in western companies, especially ones the size of Nintendo. It’s a culture and an ethos that some might do well to emulate. Even if it’s only temporary and will likely make zero difference to their lifestyles, the gesture cannot hep but be appreciated by employees, fans and investors alike.