Isao Okawa, businessman, 74

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Friday March 16 4:24 AM ET

Sega Says Outspoken President Okawa Dies 

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sega Corp said that its outspoken president Isao Okawa,
who recently grabbed media headlines for his 85 billion yen ($695.7
million) private donation to the struggling gamemaker, died of heart
failure on Friday. He was 74 years old.

When Sega made the tough decision of ending its flagship Dreamcast (news -
web sites) game console in January, Okawa took the unprecedented step of
making the donation to ease its pain.

Okawa returned his entire stakes in Sega and other group firms -- CSK
Corp, Ascii Corp, and NextCom KK -- to offset some of Sega's financial
burden from its January 31 decision to pull the plug on its loss-making
game machine by end-March.

The gift, also involving shares in unlisted firms and convertible bonds,
helped calm nervous investors about the outlook for the world's third
biggest gamemaker as it faced 80 billion yen in special losses from ending
Dreamcast, leading to a record 58.3 billion yen net loss in the year to
March.

Okawa also was founder and honorary chairman of information services
company CSK and had been active in helping Sega and software publisher
Ascii expand their networking businesses.

($1-122.16 Yen) 



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