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Iwata's approval up 3%, Miyamoto's down 6%, everyone else slightly to fairly down

AniHawk

Member
This really baffles me. What has Iwata done in the last year to warrant a 3% increase in approval? 3DS sales are down and Wii U sales continue to stay in the shitter.

Do investors really believe in QOL? Smash for Wii U? The NFC figures? Or is it something else?

Lets say QOL is a monumental failure, and Smash/NFC/Kart are unable to meaningfully increase Wii U hardware sales by this time next year. Do we see the approval rating fall then? Because going into this shareholder meeting I was fucking sure his approval would be down from last year, even slightly.

you kinda thought he was being fired huh
 

Sandfox

Member
Nothing. The investors that opposed him sold their shares (these are NOT Yamauchi's shares, unless you are implying he opposed Iwata as Director last year), so obviously his approval % would increase.

Even then the amount of shares supporting him grew.

This really baffles me. What has Iwata done in the last year to warrant a 3% increase in approval? 3DS sales are down and Wii U sales continue to stay in the shitter.

Do investors really believe in QOL? Smash for Wii U? The NFC figures? Or is it something else?

Lets say QOL is a monumental failure, and Smash/NFC/Kart are unable to meaningfully increase Wii U hardware sales by this time next year. Do we see the approval rating fall then? Because going into this shareholder meeting I was fucking sure his approval would be down from last year, even slightly.

If every single one of the plans he laid out don't work he'll probably be gone.
 
But Yamauchi wouldn't have voted no for Iwata. It is the "no" votes that are missing.

Which still begs the question: Where did they go? Likely sold off.

Correct. Yamauchi has always been a tentpole supporter of Iwata.

Even if Yamauchi disagreed with Iwata's 3DS / Wii U strattegy, Iwata is his hand-chosen successor, so supporting him whenever possible is pretty much a requirement back when Yamauchi still voted.
 
Even then the amount of shares supporting him grew.



If every single one of the plans he laid out don't work he'll probably be gone.

Shares supporting grew ~5000. Shares opposing fell ~50000. Assume the 5000 came from the 50000 (although this is not true, but for the sake of the argument). Where is the 45000?
 

Sandfox

Member
Ok but what if they all fail, then he if announces like... a new console, a new handheld and some new love hotels all for 2016

83% approval amirite
That would probably depend on the ideas, but if everything he did failed, I doubt anyone would be willing to support him.
Shares supporting grew ~5000. Shares opposing fell ~50000. Assume the 5000 came from the 50000 (although this is not true, but for the sake of the argument). Where is the 45000?

A lot of people probably got out, but he has more people supporting him now than before when a lot of people were expecting a major drop. Even with the drop you would expect a drop in the number of people who approve of him if the investors who previously supported him were angry with him and what he's doing.
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
But Yamauchi wouldn't have voted no for Iwata. It is the "no" votes that are missing.

Which still begs the question: Where did they go? Likely sold off.

Sold off to whom? The ones that bought them didn't vote or what? The shares don't just disappear.

The most reasonable explanation (so far) is that the drop in the total number of shares is due to the buyback and actually a bigger part (than the percentages show) of the shareholders changed their mind about Iwata. So 45000 is corresponding to Yamauchi share and 50000 changed their mind (edit: or were bought by shareholders that approve Iwata's policy).
 

Porcile

Member
I can't pretend to know anything at all stocks etc but the upswing from approval probably comes from the expectation that Nintendo is going to return to profitability this fiscal year, no? Which of course would be a slight vindication of Iwata's plans. However, anything but profitability would be a disaster and likely put Iwata in an untenable position. I've noticed Nintendo stocks have held fairly well after the last disastrous earnings report sunk them. Investors generally buy or hold on speculation of good news, and since mobile has been categorically ruled out, then where is that speculation coming from? Can only be profitability in my eyes. Though someone kindly inform me I'm a million miles out. :)

Whatever happens, it's going to be interesting!
 

mclem

Member
Nothing. The investors that opposed him sold their shares (these are NOT Yamauchi's shares, unless you are implying he opposed Iwata as Director last year), so obviously his approval % would increase.

But Yamauchi wouldn't have voted no for Iwata. It is the "no" votes that are missing.

Which still begs the question: Where did they go? Likely sold off.


Uh dude... There are significantly less votes in opposition for Iwata this year. That number is significantly more than his slight increase. So if they didn't change their vote to an approval, where did they go? They sold their shares. This is basic Grade 1 Math.

You're using the same evidence to support two hypothesis, without taking into account that the hypothesis can also interact with one another - that is, we'd also lose Yamauchi's yes votes.

In short: there needs to be a significant shift from 'no' to 'yes' to account for that loss; there's a net gain in yesses despite the loss of the large Yamauchi voting block. They must have either come from the no's or from new people buying in.
 
Shares supporting grew ~5000. Shares opposing fell ~50000. Assume the 5000 came from the 50000 (although this is not true, but for the sake of the argument). Where is the 45000?

Maybe the 50. 000 opposing changed their mind and the old approving ones sold their stock?
 
Maybe the 50. 000 opposing changed their mind and the old approving ones sold their stock?

This is less likely than my scenario. Why would approving shareholders overwhelmingly sell their shares while the old opposers change their mind en-mass without a clear reason to do so?

Sold off to whom? The ones that bought them didn't vote or what? The shares don't just disappear.

The most reasonable explanation (so far) is that the drop in the total number of shares is due to the buyback and actually a bigger part (than the percentages show) of the shareholders changed their mind about Iwata. So 45000 is corresponding to Yamauchi share and 50000 changed their mind (edit: or were bought by shareholders that approve Iwata's policy).
You're using the same evidence to support two hypothesis, without taking into account that the hypothesis can also interact with one another - that is, we'd also lose Yamauchi's yes votes.
In short: there needs to be a significant shift from 'no' to 'yes' to account for that loss; there's a net gain in yesses despite the loss of the large Yamauchi voting block. They must have either come from the no's or from new people buying in.
Okay but that still doesn't explain this:
Number of shareholders (3/31/13): 74,633 persons
Number of shareholders (3/31/14): 55,160 persons
Note that this says shareholders and uses persons as a unit, not shares.

And there is no large clear reason as to why they would change their minds, especially if Miyamoto/Takeda/Kimishima are also down.
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
Okay but that still doesn't explain this:

Note that this says shareholders and uses persons as a unit, not shares.

Big fishes buying from small fishes when the little fishes are scared and sell for peanuts. If I'm not wrong some of the big shareholders increase their quota.

And there is no large clear reason as to why they would change their minds, especially if Miyamoto/Takeda/Kimishima are also down.

Compare the percentage of Iwata to those of Miyamoto/Takeda/Kimishima and there is a very simple explanation. Some of those that don't trust Iwata realized meanwhile that his not the only one to blame. 86% is not 50%, although people are acting here like Miyamoto is highly unpopular now.
 

Tripon

Member
Not every stock holder is an activist trying to influence the board every year. Some of the stock holders who voted no in 2013 could have simply have abstained in 2014.
 
Big fishes buying from small fishes when the little fishes are scared and sell for peanuts. If I'm not wrong some of the big shareholders increase their quota.



Compare the percentage of Iwata to those of Miyamoto/Takeda/Kimishima and there is a very simple explanation. Some of those that don't trust Iwata realized meanwhile that his not the only one to blame. 86% is not 50%, although people are acting here like Miyamoto is highly unpopular now.
So... they realize Iwata is not the only one responsible, so they vote in approval of Iwata but vote in opposition of Miyamoto? That does not make sense.

Based on your assumptions, they would vote in opposition of Iwata and Miyamoto/Takeda/Kimishima. The vote % isn't determined in advance so it's not like they say, "Let's give Iwata a few more points but deduct some from Miyamoto to move the blame.". It's either a yes or no for all directors, so it would not make sense they vote in approval of Iwata and not in approval for the other three internal directors just to "shift the blame".
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
So... they realize Iwata is not the only one responsible, so they vote in approval of Iwata but vote in opposition of Miyamoto? That does not make sense.

Based on your assumptions, they would vote in opposition of Iwata and Miyamoto/Takeda/Kimishima. The vote % isn't determined in advance so it's not like they say, "Let's give Iwata a few more points but deduct some from Miyamoto to move the blame.". It's either a yes or no for all directors, so it would not make sense they vote in approval of Iwata and not in approval for the other three internal directors just to "shift the blame".

Let me do the math once again. Iwata has 80%, Miyamoto 86%. There is a big chance that the ones that like Iwata also like Miyamoto. Then there are around 6% that like Miyamoto but don't trust Iwata. and 14% that dislike both. Of course that there can be some exceptions that like Iwata and dislike Miyamoto, but that don't change the big picture. It seems to me that you are focusing so much on Iwata and increases/decreases that you fail to acknowledge that 86% is still bigger than 80%. And this is valid for all the other directors.

To make it even clearer. The ones that realize that Iwata is not the one guilty, are not voting for Iwata, but still against him and instead they vote against other directors too.
 

daxgame

Member
just seen this, sorry for late answer

An interesting trend you will pick up is that Mr. Iwata at 77% / 81% actually represents one of the lowest CEO approval rates across the industry.

The other interesting trend is that Square's was changed very recently for example :p

Takeda should have gone way lower than Miyamoto, anyway.

you kinda thought he was being fired huh

it's amazing how many people seriously thought his rating was going to collapse, huh?
I had some good laughs though
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
As it's been rather difficult, at least for me, to find information on what trusts/companies voted for or against Mr. Iwata and the other executives, I find a new thread to be rather superfluous. Anyway, I saw that Transamerica Series Trust (Transamerica Capital, Inc.) today filed an N-PX (voting records) with the SEC, and they seem to hate the current board of directors:

Code:
Nintendo Co. Ltd.
Ticker     Security ID:             Meeting Date          Meeting Status
7974       CINS J51699106           06/27/2014            Voted
Meeting Type                        Country of Trade
Annual                              Japan
Issue No.  Description              Proponent  Mgmt Rec   Vote Cast  For/Against
                                                                      Mgmt

1          Approve Allocation of    Mgmt       For        For        For
            Income, with a Final
            Divend of JPY
            100

2          Amend Articles To        Mgmt       For        For        For
            Indemnify Directors
            and Statutory
            Auditors

3.1        Elect Director Iwata,    Mgmt       For        Against    Against
            Satoru

3.2        Elect Director Takeda,   Mgmt       For        Against    Against
            Genyo

3.3        Elect Director           Mgmt       For        Against    Against
            Miyamoto,
            Shigeru

3.4        Elect Director           Mgmt       For        Against    Against
            Kimishima,
            Tatsumi

3.5        Elect Director           Mgmt       For        Against    Against
            Takahashi,
            Shigeyuki

3.6        Elect Director Yamato,   Mgmt       For        Against    Against
            Satoshi

3.7        Elect Director Tanaka,   Mgmt       For        Against    Against
            Susumu

3.8        Elect Director           Mgmt       For        Against    Against
            Takahashi,
            Shinya

3.9        Elect Director Shinshi,  Mgmt       For        Against    Against
            Hirokazu

3.10       Elect Director           Mgmt       For        Against    Against
            Mizutani,
            Naoki

Source: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/778207/000119312514321833/d776143dnpx.htm

Nuveen Investment Funds Inc did exactly the same, though Nuveen Investment Trust II voted for Mr. Iwata and the others: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/820892/000119312514316309/d756096dnpx.htm
Other companies that voted against Mr. Iwata:

  • Nomura Partners Funds, Inc. (also voted against Takeda, Miyamoto and Kimishima)
  • RidgeWorth Funds
  • Russell Investment Company
Didn't get further than that as SEC's server got too much of a workload.
 
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