(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinionsexpressed are his own.)

By Quentin Webb

HONG KONG, April 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Nintendo 7974.T is aiming a splat bomb at Japans corporategerontocracy. The $50 billion maker of hit video games such asSplatoon and Super Mario Odyssey is getting a 46-year-old boss,with Managing Executive Officer Shuntaro Furukawa set to replacePresident Tatsumi Kimishima in June. Thats refreshing in anation where seniority counts for so much.

Furukawa inherits a firm on the up, with shares gaining 64percent in 12 months, sales doubling last year, and the newSwitch console flying off the shelves. He may not be quite asprecocious as Isao Moriyasu, the 44-year-old who runsmobile-gaming specialist DeNA 2432.T and is the youngest bossof a Nikkei 225 firm, according to a recent Spencer Stuartstudy. But Furukawa will still be one of Japans youngestcorporate chieftains. The report found the average Japanesepresident or chief executive was 62, five years older than U.S.equivalents. Chairmen are even more venerable, averaging 68years.

That can impede dynamic decision-making. Jefferiesstrategist Zuhair Khan, who has studied Japanese governance indetail, argues the ideal CEO should be under 65 and the averageboard member in his or her fifties. To make things worse, formerbosses in Japan often stay on as directors or advisers, crampingtheir successors. If leaders all belong to the same generation,that only heightens the chances of groupthink already a bigrisk, given how few women or foreigners occupy senior positions.

Experience matters, of course. And Japan has no monopoly onbusiness veterans: look at Warren Buffett, Rupert Murdoch orCarl Icahn. Equally, youth can bring its own problems, as shownin the growing pains of ride-hailing giant Uber UBER.UL andsocial network Facebook FB.O .

Still, making squid-themed shoot em ups does seemsparticularly well-suited to a younger mindset. Furukawa is thesame age as Pony Ma, for example, the billionaire boss ofChinese gaming juggernaut Tencent 0700.HK . This is clearly ayoung persons game.

On Twitter https://twitter.com/qtwebb

CONTEXT NEWS

- Nintendo said on April 26 that it made a net profit of 140billion yen ($1.28 billion) in the year ending March 31, a 36percent increase on the previous year, as revenue more thandoubled to nearly 1.1 trillion yen.

- The Japanese video games company said it sold more than 15million Switch consoles, devices that can be played at home oron the move, during the fiscal year.

- The companys board picked Managing Executive OfficerShuntaro Furukawa to replace Tatsumi Kimishima as president,subject to shareholder approval.

- Shares in Nintendo have risen more than 64 percent in thelast 12 months, giving the company a market value of nearly $50billion.

- For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers canclick on WEBB/

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<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Nintendo switches president after forecasting best annual profitin 9 years urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1S33OZ Company earnings https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2018/180426e.pdf Statement on president https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2018/180426_5e.pdf Spencer Stuart study https://www.spencerstuart.com/-/media/pdf files/research and insightpdfs/ssbi-jpbi-english-2017.pdfla=en&hash=BE0D6ADC35684C6AF497120828B7E31BA23972F2BREAKINGVIEWS-Consoles power up Nintendo like nothing else urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1PL232 BREAKINGVIEWS-Nintendo plays its way toward markets high score urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1N53KB

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Editing by Una Galani and Bob Cervi) ((quentin.webb@thomsonreuters.com; ReutersMessaging:quentin.webb.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))