Nintendo is Selling its Majority Stake in the Seattle Mariners

Can't say I blame them. Although it was cool they owned a major league baseball team the Mariners haven't been good the whole time they owned them.

Do they really need the money that badly?

I must admit that I'm more of a Brewers fan, but I do wonder why they sold this off.

I think baseball is dying out. Time to jump ship for sure.

Seems like a fine move to me, it seems rather pointless to own a baseball team when you're a video game company. Other than the occasional Mario Baseball game, I don't see much relevance.

1.4 billion is more net profit than Nintendo made in the entire fiscal year! With this transaction Nintendo doesn't need to make any money for this year to be profitable lol

@AVahne
Judging by their 15+ billion dollar bank roll and the fact they just turned another profit I doubt they do. (EDIT Although I don't think a company out there would say they couldn't use more money- do they need it? Probably not, but, I'm pretty sure they can find a good use for it)

But, there's really no reason not to cash out on over $1 billion. And I think the popularity of the sport is dwindling more than ever. Plus as others have said they only owned shares because of the past family's obsession with the sport. It's like selling that $6000 China set your parents left you with but you have absolutely no use for or interest in.

Aww, I guess no more Splatoon ads on the backstop (though they could certainly still buy ad space).

@Tetroy64 Uh..isn't the total valuation of the team $1.4b and Nintendo is essentially cashing out on 45%, i.e. $630m ?

I just hope they make good investments with the money. All this Nintendo news today has bummed me out. Please make me believe again soon with awesome announcements.

Mariners fans seem to be happy with the news.

I understand the other comments you guys are making, but, in light of current unfoldings, seeing this makes me a bit worried about how much the new management cares about the company.

After all, why waste money on R&D when you can liquidate the company's assets, retire and leave someone else holding the bag. (And no, I'm not including Miyamoto in this group)

How is there not even a note about Howard Lincoln being replaced as CEO??

Time for them to buy a hockey team!

@JaxonH LOL i really hope this was a facetious post

It's like when you're strapped for cash, and you have to pawn your favorite guitar... I don't know why @JaxonH is talking about china.

But yea I'm sure owning a baseball team is a useless asset, so why not sell it? Who knows what kind of ROI they were getting from it, especially if it's not a paticularly winning franchise. (No offense to Mariners fans )

@IceClimbers Why is that?

I knew a colossal Mariners fan, and he couldn't stand the sight of Nintendo.

What did Nintendo do to them?

Anyone remember the DSi companion app you could get for Mariners games? It was also on the 3DS eShop. I never used it since I live in Chicago, but I always thought it was kind of funny.

@Neon_Blues Because its cool to hate Nintendo thats why

the end of an era for sure.

This may finally turn the Mariners around. If management is closer to home, the focus on building a winning baseball team as opposed to just making money should take hold.

Nintendo, on the other hand, is a sinking ship and clearly needs money, since owning the Mariners is and has been a cash cow for them for 20 years. Tough times? Sell off one of your most valuable assets.

@Neon_Blues No idea. I live near Sacramento, so I root for the A's and Giants.

More of a basketball fan than a baseball fan .

Feels like they are digging in the couch cushions for change.

This news, everything Nintendo has done today, is just making them look weak and desperate. This was a poor decision, it's killing fan's confidence.

@JaxonH Judging by how salary escalation is at an all-time high and teams are signing these massive TV contracts, I'd say that interest in baseball is certainly not dwindling. Sure, it falls behind the NFL, but it's still easily the #2 sport in the U.S. as well as a top contender in Canada, Japan, South Korea, and several Latin American countries.

@Spoony_Tech They haven't always been bad over that time, as they had some very good years from 1995-2001, and things have been looking up for them over the last couple of years, but yeah, they've never won a World Series and Mariners fans have had little to celebrate aside from Ichiro Suzuki over the last 15 years. Actually, the Mariners were in even worse shape before Nintendo bought them!

@Technosphile Nintendo of America is based in Seattle, so there's still local management

@AVahne Do they really need to be invested in a baseball team?

@MitchVogel
Maybe that's why people hate Nintendo! Because the Mariners are so bad! (I support the A's and Yankees, somebody had to mention how bad they are)

@IceClimbers
Cool! I live near sac town to! I despise the Giants though!

It makes me sad when people say baseball is a dying sport. It's definitely struggling, perhaps dying, but it sure is a good sport. The world's getting too fast for its own good.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Then a basketball. Then maybe heck, a badmittion team. Image a badminton shirt with Mario on it! Lol

@Wallkick03 I'm not dedicated enough of a baseball fan to really have a team. Don't really play favorites there, but most of my family are A's fans.

As for basketball, Sacramento Kings till the day I die! Wish they'd finally become a winning team again though. Progress is being made slowly!

GO MARINERS!!!
As a fan, I'm glad to see this happen, because Nintendo always had a strange relationship with the team. I can never recall the Japanese ownership ever attending a Mariner game. I'll miss the Nintendo advertising in the stadium but I won't miss those weird kiosks where you could actually buy a 3ds during a baseball game.
I'm also glad to see Nintendo get out because the Mariners are in first place in their division and Nintendo has shown little to no interest in the team anyway so sayonara. Go M's!

But seriously, as a longtime Mariner fan--this is great news. Nintendo is giving majority shares to the rest of the ownership who have been more committed to the team's success. Also the Mariners are worth significantly more than they did when Nintendo bought them in the nineties, so Nintendo will be making an overall profit from their investment while still retaining 10% of a team that could be making a serious playoff run this year.

@Haiassai I agree with you there, I wish it'd stay around. While I'm not a very big fan of baseball, it symbolizes American spirit to me, and I view it as an important piece of our culture.

@Tasuki Yup. They're making progress towards being a non-dysfunctional organization, albeit slowly. Front office situation is figured out finally (and before hiring the head coach for once!).

Kings have been absolutely nailing everything except for basketball the past couple years , and they make Nintendo look tame in terms of dysfunction, which is why Nintendo's decisions don't really phase me much.

@tasuki Nintendo didn't by half of the mariners on a whim. besides being an obvious status symbol, Nintendo had business in mind with this investment. At the time, the best player on the team and arguably in all of Baseball was Ken Griffey Jr. Nintendo made four video games featuring Griffey as their face of sports gaming.

@tasuki

I don't think the Kings will be a winning team until they move to Seattle or better yet become the Las Vegas Kings after the NFL moves the Raiders to Vegas

I think it's clear why they are selling, the profits for this year have been poor and the next 12 months will be much worse. This will put money back in the coffers and it would appear they had very involvement anyway.

Is this because the Mariners are not very good and Nintendo could invest in a better company, something that will give them more publicity. Or does Nintendo need the cash?

I'm a Reds fan but this is sad news. They were sort of my second favorite. Nintendo and baseball are two things I really enjoy, and it was cool seeing things like Splatoon ads behind the batter.

@gatorboi352
My old boss used to say "facetious" like it was going out of style. Every time I hear it I think of her...

@BulbasaurusRex
Perhaps it's still very popular now but, how long will that continue to be the case

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/baseballs-trouble-with-the-youth-curve--and-what-that-means-for-the-game/2015/04/05/2da36dca-d7e8-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html

@Captain_Gonru
Ya it seems all sports are in decline (save perhaps basketball and maybe soccer???)

But baseball in particular is at much higher risk due to the slow pace of the game and the microwave attention spans of the millennial generation. In fact, MLB has already started implementing rules to speed up the pace of the game, for the first time in 100 years. I hear they're considering a timer for the pitcher now.

Seems like a sensible decision to streamline the company operations. A baseball team was a strange investment to a company like Nintendo. I'm not american, I know nothing of baseball outside of Wii Sports, but the Mariners were never that great of a team to begin with?
Nintendo can make some better use of the money they'll earn with this sale, I hope they stop at nothing to make sure NX is nothing short of stellar.

Reminds me of that Pennant Chase Baseball game that they never released despite it being pretty much completed.

Maybe that's why NX was delayed until next year... Nintendo has no money to make them. They need to sell some assets to buy parts and then duct-taped them together to make NX.

@Spoony_Tech mainly because of Howard Lincoln's terrible decisions.

@Sir_JBizzle Yamauchi bought it for $125 million and are now worth 1.1 billion according to Forbes, so I'd say a pretty good ROI. Owning a baseball team is extremely lucrative even if they don't win

Nintendo buying the stock to begin with was just by happenstance. I'm sure they feel it's a good time to sell it to lay some padding for a rough year.

I think it's smart for Nintendo to focus their attention on what they're good at.

I love how everyone ignored the only mariner fan here to give their own 'nintendo stick to nintendo' opinions--so brave.

@tasuki You're right, none of my points matter, great conversation--thanks.

They still own them though because they own 10% of the stake.

@AVahne No, they definitely don't NEED the money. But they also don't need a baseball team, and since their core business is video games, it makes more sense to pocket a billion dollars and get out from under the headache of managing an MLB team as a mere side-project.

@Spoony_Tech: Wrong, though they have never won a World Series they had a few good seasons plus MLB record tying 116 win season in 2001.

Yamauchi originally bought the team to save the team and to keep it in Seattle (unlike Howard Schultz and the Sonics). His intention was always to sell it back to local ownership.
-Source a 35 year old Mariners fan from Seattle

Oh and good riddance Howard Lincoln! You should have stayed with Nintendo, you were much more successful there.

@Ryno Was that when Griffy was still there!?

@JaxonH Baseball has a slower pace compared to basketball or hockey, but the pace works the same way (brief bursts of intense plays broken up by longer bouts of setup and analysis) as American football, the most popular sport in the U.S. While youth interest (in the U.S. at least) may be declining, I don't think the pace of the game is a major factor. The speed-up rules are just because they don't want so many three hour plus long games, not because they feel there's too much of a lull between pitches.

@JaxonH
Huh, that makes sense. Though, it sort of feels like a bit of the Yamauchi family legacy is being thrown away here.

@AVahne
That it does.

I hear he was just inducted into consumer electronics hall of fame or something.

@JaxonH
I heard about that, too.
Guess that can make up for the Mariners sale.

@IceClimbers
They need to trade DeMarcus. Until they do that they won't get anything different.
I'm a Kings fan also, but they just need to get rid of that guy!

@TossedLlama
I HATE the mets!!

@Ryno
Yeah but they didn't even make it to the World Series!
@Spoony_Tech The Yankeed should have won that year, one of the Arizona Players was proven to be on roids.