Nintendo market value tops 10 trillion yen

Not that it comes as much of a surprise, but Nintendo's growing market value doesn't seem to be showing any signs of letting up, with the company now crossing the 10 trillion yen mark (or roughly $85 billion). That magic number now makes Nintendo Japan's third biggest company (up from fifth place just a few months ago), with only Toyota and Mitsubishi edging it out for first and second place, respectively. As Reuters points out, the new value is nearly triple what the company was worth before it launched the Wii late last year (although the DS no doubt had a fair bit to do with that as well), and a fivefold increase over what it was worth two years ago.

[Via TG Daily]

[MosquitoControl @ Oct 15th 2007 6:12PM]

Cash in! Buy Sony!

Haha, market suicide!

[Dave @ Oct 15th 2007 11:43PM]

IT PRINTS MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! ZOMG!

[Craig @ Oct 15th 2007 6:26PM]

i thought nintendo was already no. 2 in japan. one of these stories is inaccurate, unless mitsubishi also had a surge in value

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/27/nintendo-has-no-2-market-cap-in-japan/

[Chris @ Oct 15th 2007 6:30PM]

Wiiiiii!!!!!!!! Money!!!

[fletchdaddy @ Oct 15th 2007 6:32PM]

This article is a bit misleading. These two are a bit better.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUKT1482820070925
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2007/asia/

[Craig @ Oct 15th 2007 6:45PM]

the reuters link you posted is almost three weeks old... it says nintendo is the 2nd most valuable active stock (mitsu was suspended that week for a 1000-for-one stock split).

and the cnn money link is ranked by revenue, which is a completely different measure.

also, i'm starting to think the joystiq article is completely wrong

[Michael La Framboise @ Oct 15th 2007 6:38PM]

So the rumors were true after all, the Wii really does print money.

[Slvrgun @ Oct 15th 2007 8:25PM]

I have a Wii and it's alright, but I must say minigames must be the ink that helps Nintendo print money.

[Josh @ Oct 15th 2007 6:44PM]

I find it hard to believe a country that technologically advanced has a counsel manufacturer as its 3 largest industry. Not to bash the Wii or anything, but sony is MASSIVE compared to nintendo, selling counsels, laptops, PMPs, Cell phones, etc etc, and then there is nikon as well, and canon too.

Seriously though? A counsel manufacturer?

[XiozTzu @ Oct 15th 2007 6:50PM]

Seriously though, they build lawyers?? Do they use the same employees that build the consoles?

[perfectionist @ Oct 15th 2007 6:52PM]

They don't sell counsels. If they did, they might be able to make quite a change... ;)

BTW, Ninty's the company that single-handedly revived the video game market. Sony makes average products these days with mandatory Blu-ray pushing.

IMO:
- Ugly all-in-ones overpriced b/c of blu-ray
- PS3 isn't so family friendly with its marketing
- PSP doesn't get the wide following of the DS
- Offensive marketing
--http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/sony-under-fire-for-racist-advertising/
--http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/09/warning-psp-ads-can-kill-you/
- Laptops can't compare to Apple in design or match the low price of other manufacturers.
- All computers come with heavy bloatware, more so than the likes of HP and Dell.
- Sony's TVs that perform well are not priced well because the average consumer isn't so critical and is fine with good, not perfect.

My 2 cents. Don't mean to turn this into a Sony-bash-fest.

[Karan @ Oct 15th 2007 7:14PM]

It's not the "third largest industry", it's the third-highest-by-market-value. This means a lot of people have poured money into Ninty stock and thus pushed up the value - perhaps to unsustainable (read: stupid) levels. As the article states, Sony is worth half on market, but has 8 times the earnings - all other things being equal, Sony should be worth 8x Nintendo. Why isn't it? Um. Blame the market?

For comparison, Google's market cap is $193B, Microsoft is $298B, but Ford is only $18.8B, and GM a measly $23B. Apple is $145B for a 'niche' line of computers and the iPod monolith, while something like Boeing is $74B for half the planes in the sky. Is the market right in its valuations? You be the judge

[Catprog @ Oct 15th 2007 8:09PM]

Karen.

Revenue or profit.

Sure Sony's revenue is greater but there profit is much lower then Nintendo's.

[Craig @ Oct 15th 2007 8:23PM]

catprog -

nintendo has a high market cap because investors have placed a high value on its stock, not necessarily because of the profit margin on the wii

[Karan @ Oct 16th 2007 10:41AM]

Catprog -

I said "all other things being equal" didn't i? :)

[EngadgetFanBoi @ Oct 15th 2007 6:46PM]

Hey, hey, hey, Donald!


Did you just take down a post and all of its comments to fix your error? I mean I know you messed up and posted a bogus link with a completely wrong passage attached, but still. I thought it was customary at Engadget to post an "Update" portion at the end of the article. I'm disappointed.

See original post here:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/26/boost-in-earnings-makes-nintendo-japans-fifth-biggest-company/

[EngadgetFanBoi @ Oct 15th 2007 6:51PM]

Wow, I'm stupid. We can move on now.

[master_sword @ Oct 15th 2007 6:51PM]

Go Nintendo! Yeah!

[bjrcboy @ Oct 15th 2007 6:58PM]

Nintendo is more then likly laughing at microsoft and sony for their multiple sku's.

[MARK @ Oct 15th 2007 7:53PM]

Nintendo will be jumping on the mulitple SKU's before you know it, they all do it. It increases revenue, have you seen the different DS colors and special editions?

[adrian @ Oct 15th 2007 7:07PM]

I like the Wii but the novelty of the device will soon wear off, Just give it time.

[AMC83 @ Oct 16th 2007 2:09AM]

OMG im sooo tired of hearing this is anyone else...3 years from now people are still gonna be saying this ..nintendo is strong this generation GET OVER IT! saying the wii is a novelty is a novelty now.....

[Mark @ Oct 15th 2007 11:16PM]

ya, I agree, just give it 4 or 5 years, until the next nintendo console comes out and then the novelty will die. Seriously, it's been a year already and theres no sign of it letting up. That dream of ps3/360 fans has died.

[Charles @ Oct 15th 2007 11:28PM]

According to many Japanese publishers it will be much less than 4 or 5 years:

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6180832.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;9

For me the novelty lasted an afternoon and I sold my Wii a while back. I don't understand the appeal myself but it's obviosly not aimed at me.

[Josh L @ Oct 15th 2007 11:43PM]

Personally, I am a Nintendo fanboy. As in, I absolutely love all of their game franchises (Metroid, Zelda, Mario, et al.) and love playing them. So I bought the Wii for the same reason I bought the GameCube: so that every couple of months I could play a stellar first-party Nintendo title. Whether the console is 'gimmicky' or not is personal taste, I suppose. Personally, I think it's a refreshing way to play games.

In short, when I want to have fun playing some sweet FPS matches online with my friends, I boot up the 360. When I want to kick back to some solitary RPGing, I'll go to the PS2. And when I want to play some quality Nintendo titles with a new twist, I'll get the Wiimote and nunchuck. Haven't picked up a PS3 yet, but I'm sure I will when they flesh out their library a bit more with the great 3rd-party games that SONY consoles are famous for.

Real gamers play games; they don't waste time arguing about hardware ;)

[N30 G30 @ Oct 16th 2007 3:36AM]

It's nearly a year. When the hell are you going to shut up? I mean I believe in the freedom of speech, but everytime you talk, you just seem more ignorant.

The same exact people are saying the same thing about the DS, claiming the PSP is a better game system with 3 great games. It's been 3 freaking years!

like I said, shut the hell up. It's for your own good.

[adrian @ Oct 16th 2007 9:25PM]

@N30 G30 /AMC 83. You are getting heated over a simple comment. A comment which I belive will bear out in the long run, Remember I said: "Give it time". To be quite honest I can't belive Nintendo are still running Mario for christ's sake.

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Oct 15th 2007 7:08PM]

That's 9.9 trillion more yen than I'll have in my life. (and the next one)

[Daniel @ Oct 15th 2007 7:32PM]

So you have $8,516,087.781 USD? (That's 0.1 Trillion Yen (1 Billion Yen) converted into USD)....Can I have some? :D

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Oct 15th 2007 7:38PM]

It's that much? Then I'll rephrase my response:

"That's 9.99999 trillon more yen..."

[LordFarkward @ Oct 15th 2007 9:18PM]

actually, 0.1 trillion is 100 billion, not 1 billion.

[Anthony Huff @ Oct 15th 2007 7:14PM]

The dollar is weaker too. Boo.

[Fruition @ Oct 15th 2007 7:16PM]

Being the type of person that I am, I listened to the Wii hype and decided I needed one, but then when I got it and saw the exercise involved to play, the gamer in me spurned it. I haven't played it in months. The PS3 is much more to my liking.

What's my point? People either love the Wii, or buy it because it's a novelty. There is not a soul who dislikes it. Pretty much Nintendo made the most loveable system ever.

[Stephen @ Oct 15th 2007 9:03PM]

People love the Wii because it offers more than just shoot-'em-ups and mature-rated titles(a la PS3 and 360). At least that's what I like about it, there's more choice in what games you want to buy/play.

[cc @ Oct 15th 2007 8:01PM]

NTDOY up on DS profits... Wii only just hitting the bottom line. $50/unit in gross margin. It's when the software sales start rolling in that the party's going to really start. Going to $100/share.

[Neebs @ Oct 15th 2007 8:48PM]

That's over nine thousaaaa- *gets shot*

[rokerovakero @ Oct 15th 2007 9:35PM]

just amazing. And just a couple years ago Microsoft said they wanted to buy Nintendo. and I bet they would have fuck this one up and make it brown.

[Darren @ Oct 15th 2007 11:35PM]

I just picked up the Zelda Collector's Edition for the GC and have been playing Ocarina of Time. Man, what a great game.

[CB @ Oct 16th 2007 6:37AM]

Yeah, a friend of mine plays the Wii to death but still complains about the graphics,
So I say all the great real games have pretty crap graphics actually, Tennis is just a furry ball a net and a racquet, Football is a green rectangle and a ball, Golf ..now that needs good graphics, rolling countryside, trees in the breeze, amazing sunsets.
The best grphic games are text adventures, always will be.

[Fredster @ Oct 16th 2007 11:29AM]

I wish Nintendo all the best and lots of succes in the coming years, i really like that company!

[daedric @ Oct 16th 2007 2:23PM]

By edging, you mean more than double the value of Nintendo, sure.

[Shadow943 @ Oct 17th 2007 6:47PM]

It is prbably because of all the Wii sales