Nintendo Completes 9.5 Million Share Buyback

Nintendo completed its 114.2 billion yen share buyback today as the company's founding Yamauchi family old a portion of its inherited stake, Nintendo announced.

Acquired through the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the shares totaled 9.5 million, each worth a little more than 12,000 yen. Of Nintendo's outstanding stock, the heirs to former CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi owned about 10 percent after his death in September, but it is not known how much of the family's shares were sold, Nintendo told Business Week.

The buyback follows Nintendo's recent financial woes as it approaches the end of its fiscal year. President Satoru Iwata announced the company's plans for possible mergers and acquisitions, as illustrated by the aforementioned buyback, and its attempts to branch into new markets. A severe slump in the third quarter led Nintendo executives to decrease fiscal year sales forecasts, attributed largely to the company's overestimation of Wii U sales.

Mike Mahardy is a freelance writer for various outlets. To hear him rant about Syracuse basketball, you can follow Mike on Twitter at @mmahardy.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com