McDonald's Happy Meal - Pokémon GO

Another day, another Pokémon GO success story. This time it's McDonald's in Japan which has enjoyed the benefits of the new surge of interest in all things Pokémon. Since it started giving Pokémon-themed toys away with its Happy Meals, sales have gone through the roof and their shares have jumped a massive 23 percent - the biggest gain since July 2001. Just let that sink in for a bit.

Pokémon GO still isn't available in Japan, with developer Niantic stating that a late July release is likely, due to the fact that the game's servers simply wouldn't cope with the demand. Despite its absence from the iOS App Store and Google Play store in this region, the buzz for the game has gripped Japanese consumers regardless.

Mitsushige Akino, a Tokyo-based executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. sums the situation up nicely:

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Investors are flocking to Pokemon-related stocks and McDonald's Japan is one of those benefiting from the boom. The boom came at a time when McDonald's business has already started recovering and there's expectation that the Pokemon toy offering will further increase customer traffic to their shops.

It's yet another fantastic result for Nintendo who are of course enjoying the benefits of global Pokémon-mania thanks to the fact that of the three entities which own The Pokémon Company, it is the only one whose stock is publicly traded. Nintendo's market value is now greater than that of Sony Corp, a situation which would have seemed unthinkable to most people earlier in the year.

[source bloomberg.com]