Nintendo – 81st Annual General Meeting of Shareholders: approval ratings, CSR report, message from the President, Q&A

5 July 202127 June 2023 Lite_Agent General Meeting of Shareholders

On June 29th, Nintendo held their 81st Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, where shareholders were invited to vote on several matters. The first one is the distribution of surplus: the company proposed a divided of 1 410 Yen / share, and this was approved by the vast majority of shareholders:

For: 887 901 votes in favour (99.65%)
Against: 179 votes against
Did not vote: 657

Next, here’s the approval rate for the various Directors, which were all re-elected:

Shuntaro Furukawa: 863 534 votes in favour (96.86%), 24 822 votes against, 904 did not vote
Shigeru Miyamoto: 872 605 votes in favour (97.88%), 13 924 votes against, 2 731 did not vote
Shinya Takahashi: 872 600 votes in favour (97.88%), 13 928 votes against, 2 731 did note vote
Ko Shiota: 869 831 votes in favour (97.57%), 16 696 votes against, 2 731 did note vote
Satoru Shibata: 872 393 votes in favour (97.85%), 14 135 votes against, 2 731 did note vote

Last year, their approval rate was as follows:

Shuntaro Furukawa: 937 392 votes in favour (95.47%), 41 324 votes against, 245 did not vote
Shigeru Miyamoto: 965 332 votes in favour (98.32%), 12 059 votes against, 1 575 did not vote
Shinya Takahashi: 965 552 votes in favour (98.34%), 11 834 votes against, 1 575 did note vote
Ko Shiota: 965 559 votes in favour (98.34%), 11 827 votes against, 1 575 did note vote
Satoru Shibata: 965 553 votes in favour (98.34%), 11 833 votes against, 1 575 did note vote

Also, the new Director (Chris Meledandri) was elected without much issues:

Chris Meledandri: 885 413 votes in favour (99.31%), 2 948 votes against, 904 did not vote

This time around, all re-elected save Shuntaro Furukawa saw their approval rate drop slightly, though they still have the support of the majority of shareholders.

Next, Nintendo have updated their CSR Report: you can find it on this page!

Here’s the new message from the president (Shuntaro Furukawa):

For the Health and Safety of Everyone Involved

We have always prioritized the health and safety of our consumers, business partners and employees.
To respond to the spread of COVID-19, we established the Disaster Response Committee, where the President serves as chairperson. We implemented a variety of initiatives, such as distributing masks to all employees and establishing Work From Home policies. In addition, considering risk of infection, we shifted all consumer events to an online format in principle, prioritizing the health and safety of consumers while attempting to minimize situations where they would miss out on eagerly anticipated opportunities. During the mandatory stay-at-home period, we feel that Ring Fit Adventure for Nintendo Switch along with Jump Rope Challenge, a game Nintendo developers created while working from home, were able to offer consumers many opportunities to exercise and stay active. And with our supply chain initiatives, we adjusted our processes to perform supply chain audits remotely. We are continuing to transform our organization by adapting flexibly to various changes in the business environment due to the spread of COVID-19.

Putting Smiles on the Faces of Everyone Nintendo Touches

Our goal of “putting smiles on the faces of everyone we touch” includes three priority areas: “Put smiles on the faces of our consumers,” “Put smiles on the faces of our supply chain” and “Put smiles on the faces of our employees.” To support these priorities we engage in a variety of activities, including initiatives that are unique to our overseas subsidiaries and globally coordinated actions.
For example, we are continually focused on promoting the use of our free Nintendo Switch Parental Controls application, which helps children enjoy games with peace of mind. In regards to our supply chain, as it becomes increasingly important to deal with human rights and labor risks, we share each country’s CSR procurement activities globally, and continue to strengthen our efforts in this area. For our employees, we continue to enhance our working environment and its systems, including respecting diversity and ensuring that each employee can perform to their fullest potential, regardless of sex, age, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.
Nintendo has always strived to reduce our environmental impact, and that starts with our product development and design. As part of our ongoing work in this area, we collect and publish data related to our environmental impact and activities. In recent years, focus on environmental issues such as climate change and marine plastics has further increased, and the movement toward finding solutions is accelerating around the world, as represented by international frameworks like the Paris Agreement. We will work to tackle these environmental challenges as we look ahead to the future.

To Build Long-Term Trust With Consumers

We have endeavored for many years to build and maintain strong relationships with our consumers. The trust our consumers place in us as a company is our most important asset. As a company that brings smiles to people through entertainment, Nintendo will continue to offer original products and services to everyone around the world. And we hope that Nintendo’s unique entertainment experiences will help encourage communication across generations and borders, deepening community and connections between people.

Finally, the usual Q&A session with investors. The official English translation can be found on this page!

Here’s the list of questions:

Question 1: I’d like to ask about the exchange rate assumptions in your financial forecast. For this fiscal year, you are assuming an exchange rate of 120 yen to the euro, but that seems like a strong yen considering the rates assumed by other companies and the fact that the exchange rate is now trending at around 130 yen to the euro. On what basis did you calculate this assumed exchange rate?

Question 2: What kind of impact on Nintendo’s future do you expect from the appointment of Chris Meledandri as an outside director? Nintendo’s core business is its integrated hardware-software dedicated video game platform business, and for the continuous growth of that business, your basic strategy is to expand the number of people who have access to Nintendo IP. As part of that strategy, you have stated your intention to broaden the points of contact between consumers and Nintendo IP in fields like visual content and theme parks. With the appointment of Mr. Meledandri, will the field of visual content occupy a more important position for Nintendo? I would also like to hear the thoughts of Mr. Miyamoto, who seems to have a
leading position in this field.

Question 3: People holding important positions at Nintendo should at least like games, even if they don’t have the skills to create games. In order to get to know each director candidate as a person, I’d like to know about their favorite games.

Question 4: Iʼm really disappointed to know some media outlets reported that Nintendo games seem to notfully take gender into account. While I understand very much that Nintendo is not a company to neglect such issues, what are your thoughts about this?

Question 5: I heard that a game tournament using Nintendo software was held the other day and it was a great success, but it was an unofficial tournament. I’d like to hear more about Nintendo’s plans for involvement with e-sports going forward.

Question 6: For Nintendo Switch Online, are you considering implementing a membership option at a higher price tier with upgraded services?

Question 7: Since there are fewer opportunities to go outdoors due to COVID-19, I’ve been enjoying Ring Fit Adventure, which allows you to exercise indoors. Do you have any plans to develop a sequel?

Question 8: Splatoon 3 was announced during the Nintendo Direct in February this year, which supports the notion that the Nintendo Switch platform will keep going. On the other hand, there were some media reports that a new model would be announced in June at E3, although in the end there was no announcement of a new model at Nintendo Direct E3 2021. What are your thoughts about these kinds of reports about a new model?

Question 9: Please tell us about human rights issues in the supply chain in China, which are of particular concern overseas. A similar point was also brought up in connection with a major apparel manufacturer with whom you had a collaboration in the past, so please include the state of that investigation in your response.

Question 10: In relation to the basic strategy of “expanding the number of people who have access to Nintendo IP,” wouldn’t a “mini” series like the Nintendo Classic Mini become a new point of entry for members of the parent generation who currently do not play games? Please let us know of any future plans for a mini series, or for other online content.

Source: Nintendo