Shuntaro Furukawa

Shuntaro Furukawa
古川俊太郎
6th President of Nintendo
Incumbent
Assumed office June 28, 2018
Fellow	Shigeru Miyamoto
Preceded by	Tatsumi Kimishima
Personal details
Born	(1972-01-10) January 10, 1972 (age 52) Tokyo, Japan
Education	Waseda University

Shuntaro Furukawa (古川 俊太郎, Furukawa Shuntarō, born January 10, 1972) is a Japanese businessman and executive. He is the sixth and current president of the video game company Nintendo in Japan. He took over as company president in June 2018, succeeding Tatsumi Kimishima.

Early life

Furukawa was born in Tokyo, Japan as the son of illustrator Taku Furukawa on January 10, 1972.^[1][2] He grew up playing games on Nintendo's Famicom console.^[3] Furukawa is a graduate of Kunitachi Senior High School,^[2] and graduated from Waseda University's School of Political Science and Economics in 1994.^[4]

Career

In 1994, he joined Nintendo and worked as an accountant at the European headquarters for a decade.^[5] By the mid-2010s, he rose up in the corporate office, working in global marketing, the executive department. He also became an outside director of the partly owned The Pokémon Company as the Nintendo representative in the board of directors of the company, due to Nintendo owning 32% shares in the joint venture.^[5][6]

In 2015, he was promoted to the General Manager of Corporate Planning Department. In June 2016, with some company restructuring he joined the Nintendo Board of Directors as the Managing Executive Officer of the Corporate Analysis & Administration Division. Furukawa is fluent in English,^[7] and was involved in the development and release of the Nintendo Switch.^[5] On June 28, 2018, he succeeded Tatsumi Kimishima to become the sixth company president in Nintendo's history.^[8][9][10]

References

1. "代表取締役等の異動に関するお知らせ" (PDF) (in Japanese). Nintendo. April 26, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
2. "任天堂次期社長 古川俊太郎氏（46）硬軟使い分ける経理マン". The Nikkei (in Japanese). April 27, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
3. Nakamura, Yuji; Furukawa, Yuki (April 27, 2018). "Nintendo hands over Switch to 46-year-old president who grew up playing the Famicom". Japan Times. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
4. "任天堂社長に古川氏、君島氏は相談役に". The Nikkei (in Japanese). April 26, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
5. Nakamura, Yuji; Furukawa, Yuki (April 26, 2018). "Nintendo Puts Switch into Hands of Famicom-Generation President". Bloomberg. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
6. "IR Information : IR News". Nintendo Co., Ltd. IR News. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
7. Kohler, Chris (April 30, 2018). "Everything We Know About Nintendo's Next President". Kotaku. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
8. Morris, Chris. "Nintendo's New President Marks Start of New Dynasty". Fortune. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
9. Gilbert, Ben. "Nintendo just replaced its president with a Pokémon veteran". Business Insider. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
10. Fogel, Stefanie (June 28, 2018). "Shuntaro Furukawa Officially Takes Over As Nintendo President". Variety. Retrieved June 29, 2018.