Through an advertisement in a newspaper, Nakayama found a job as a jukebox leasing salesman for the V&V Hifi Trading Company.
Esco served as a distributor of coin-operated amusements and represented both smaller domestic factories that did not have their own distribution network and foreign manufacturers looking to place their games in Japan.
[2][5] David Rosen, then CEO of Sega, acquired Esco Trading primarily for Nakayama's leadership.
[12] Shortly after the SG-1000 launch and the death of company founder Charles Bluhdorn, Gulf and Western began to divest its secondary businesses.
[20] Nakayama tasked Sega of America CEO Michael Katz to sell one million units within the first year, using the rallying cry "Hyakumandai!".
[22] The Japanese board of directors initially disapproved of the plan,[23] but all four points were approved by Nakayama, who told Kalinske, "I hired you to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas, so go ahead and do it.
"[21] In large part due to the popularity of Sonic the Hedgehog, the Genesis outsold the SNES in the United States nearly two to one during the 1991 holiday season.
[27] Following the launch of the next-generation 32-bit Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn, sales of 16-bit hardware and software continued to account for 64% of the video game market in 1995.
[28] However, Nakayama made the decision to focus on the Saturn over the Genesis, based on the systems' relative performance in Japan.