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Nintendo buys $1.1 billion of its own shares, Yamauchi family contributes

Nintendo has bought back 9.5 million shares of its own stock, valued at 114.2 billion yen ($1.1 billion), in its first step to stabilize the company's changing financial situation. The family of Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's late (and great) CEO, sold back a portion of its shares during this buyback, according to the acquisition document. We got wind of the Yamauchi family's involvement yesterday.

Nintendo's year-on net profit fell by 30 percent in the final nine months of 2013, pulled down mainly by poor Wii U sales, the company reported. Net profit during this time was 10.2 billion yen ($99 million). Nintendo expects to post a net loss of 25 billion yen ($242 million) for its fiscal year ending in March.

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata and his board members are taking temporary pay cuts, French news outlet AFP reported. Iwata will take half of his salary for five months, and board members will see cuts of 20 percent to 30 percent. Iwata took a similar pay cut in 2011, that time to offset poor 3DS sales.

[Image: Nintendo]