Yamauchi's Heirs Have "Desire To Sell" Shares In Nintendo, Claims Report

So how exactly does it work? Nintendo buys back its own stocks so who manages them or is entitled to them? Not 100% how all that works

Hey, if I had shares that would net me 1 billion smackaroos I would sell them too

If Nintendo don't buy back their shares then another company could buy them up and take them over- Apple, Microsoft, Disney, Sony etc...

If Nintendo want to remain independent and control their own destiny with how they sell their brand and product, they have to do this.

@Buduski
I would assume the board manages them, but I don't know.

Not sure how much Nintendo stocks is owned directly by the company and how much is in the share-market, but I would assume that it's over 50%, to prevent others coming in to seize control.

@ChoppedLiver. If thats so, do you know who the representatives of the board are? Just curious really, hope this won't end up being something bad for Nintendo

@MadAdam81

But if you counted in the percentage of shares owned by Mr Yamauchi into that 51% (seeing he founded the company), then at this moment in time Nintendo could be bought out if the Yamauchi's sell to a rival bidder. They are obviously 9.5 million shares shy of total control, otherwise they wouldn't be trying to buy 9.5 million shares.

@Buduski

There are to possible scenarios when a company buys back it's own shares:

1. The shares are bought back by the company and they are then cancelled. They will cease to exist and thus no-one is entitled to them anymore and the total number of shares in the company is decreased; or

2. The shares are bought back and the company classifies them as as Teasury Shares". The possession of these shares by the company does not give the company the right to vote, to exercise rights as a shareholder or to receive dividends. They are essentially deemed to be unissued capital and and they can subsequently be sold again to investors (unlike cancelled shares which no longer exist).

So either way, it does not grant Nintendo any further rights or votes to anything, it is just a way to manage the ownership/capital structure of the company.

@MrGawain It is not obvious. There is loads of ways it can be set up. (You can have it where 1 share on its own can override all the rest).

@nikachus01 There is another like what Dell is trying to do to take it private.

@unrandomsam
Ooh yeah of course, privatisation is another reason... I forgot about what Dell were doing.

@nikachus01, ok so if it doesn't grant them any right to vote then what is the benefit of buying back those stocks?

Isn't this news from last year? Well, at least now they said the exact amount of shares to be traded. Anyway, it's nothing unexpected. Nintendo has to protect their stocks because the family had said that they didn't want to keep it. If all those stocks went into the market, it would create a huge speculation problem due to high offer.

Companies buy stock to prop up the share. It shows investors they believe in their own future and sell shares available makes them worth more - simple supply and demand.
No other company would buy them right now, the potential for the stock to go much lower is still there.

I really really really wish Nintendo would release some actual good game news so we can stop talking about stock. Wii U must have some games coming out this year.

How about a level of DK as a home demo? Sonic had a level. Put the WW HD demo from Target in the home. The olympic game demo in Target should REALLY be in the home, the Olympics start Friday. If Nintendo is too incompent or stupid to move a demo that already exists in stores to the home when the Olympics start then I really don't know what to think about their Wii U management plans.

Buy low sell high. Even if Nintendo were making this decision based on profit potential alone, it's a smart move. Keeping the shares "in house" helps them control the temperament of the stock price a little.

@Kodeen that's helpful, thanks for sharing.

@MrGawain Japanese law does not allow foreign companies to buy Japanese ones, so Nintendo is sorta safe in that regard.

I am surprised there isn't a Yamauchi who wants to be like Hiroshi or maybe they all want to run the company and that's why Iwata wants to buy them out.

@rjejr so true, all we're hearing is business news and Nintendo aren't even trying to damage control with a bit of game news. They've sat on Bayonetta and Mario Kart demos for months. They could at least give wii u owners some kind of glimmer of hope that they're not being swept under the carpet.

I'm pretty sure Nintendo doesn't want to be buying these right now as it's going to be a big drain on their finances, but they l have no choice. The Yamauchi family want to sell, and having that many shares openly for sale would drastically push down the share value and really annoy other shareholders, not to mention leave themselves open to a takeover.

Wow even the Yamauchi family don't have faith in Nintendo anymore. That doesn't sound promising

uncertain times. i'm not sure being a publicly listed company really serves nintendo either. valve are the best example and arguably the cutting edge of games companies. can do whatever they like and that pays off in all kinds of ways. in an ideal world nintendo would have people who understand economics as well as valve and go private. not sure about the japanese laws though.

It sucks that they have to deal with this now but it could probably help along with their re-structuring.

Yeesh, some gamers expect instant gratification.

@JogurtTheYogurt Or Nintendo is making them a nice offer and they don't really care about business shares

A couple years ago I read a book about Nintendo and one thing that is mentioned is the clear distance that Yamauchi's heirs have towards the company. This also explains why Iwata succeded to Hiroshi Yamauchi and not a relative on a traditional family run business for years. So the heirs desire to sell their shares don't surprise me the least!