Nintendo Is Currently The Richest Company In Japan

Time to bust out the sake! 🍶

And all of the gaming news websites, like yours, want to make it seems Nintendo is on a downfall for supposedly, delaying something that has not even been announced in the first place. I wonder, why Sony will become a third party publisher sooner than later?

Nintendo is doomed!

As fans we tend to grumble about some of Nintendo’s decisions, but you’ve got to admit, they’re doing a great job overall. 👍🏼

Nintendoomed !!!!!!!!!

Yet they cheap out on hardware..they need to stop being cheapskate and give us hardware that’s capable of playing modern games instead of giving us scraps that can barely run modern games.

Microsoft be like: any day now they'll let us buy them out

Nintendo has been "DOOOOOMED!" since about 1994. Their approach clearly works, and even with the ocassional hiccup like the Wii U, they have enough banked up to weather the storm.

@Dragonite89 Nintendo does not sell hardware at a loss. Sony does, and just look at their debt.

It prints money!!

You know what has become more tiresome than people saying that Nintendo is doomed? The ones that say it to make fun of it. In most comment sections nowadays no one says that they're doomed, yet at least 10 people make fun of the barely existent "nintendoomers".

And not the first time:
2017: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/11/nintendo_tops_toyo_keizais_list_of_japans_richest_companies_while_sony_is_fourth
2020: https://www.thegamer.com/nintendo-officially-named-richest-company-japan-2020/

Guys I think this is evidence that Nintendo is about to go bankrupt and then cease to exist, it was good while it lasted....

suspicious whistling
Ok maybe I contributed to 0.1% of their funds. (I’m not saying that I barely buy Nintendo products it’s that Nintendo is so rich that I bet even die hard Nintendo fans give Nintendo like 1 or 2% of their revenue)

@Dragonite89
the same topic, but I don't completely agree for two reasons: One, Nintendo does not develop consoles totally for "economy", also for "ergonomics", they are very accessible, their battery (in the case of a portable) has good performance , they are not 'bulky', they do not consume too much energy, plus that means no overheating; and Second; When they develop the console at the moment, the technology they use is no longer as advanced when it is already on the market, which, well, yes, it should be updated, but it would be a lot of investment and more time to develop, in addition, than with the first point, the point is to have a "simple" console, not very complex for everyone and what made the 3DS famous, to be quite stable in general.

Something that I do agree with is that Nintendo maintains the initial price of its consoles even when they are already in the final stretch of their life on the market and that is exaggerating.

Thats zero debt, people. It'll be a hard pill for some fans but Nintendo literally don't owe you anything. 😏

Guess that’s why they absolutely needed to raise the price for TotK 🙄
Wonderful products / Horrible, horrible business

I wish people would see that difference.

@martynstuff They kind of still owe me a functioning left joycon, which I paid for with money I worked for and saved, but never got.

@Edu23XWiiU I don't get this gripe. Their stock took a tumble after these reports came out, so there's some truth to the notion that Nintendo might suffer some loss. Not one story on this website has taken an alarmist/extreme position. Quit creating straw men.

@Greatluigi You do realise that 0.1% of their funds is still 11.4 million dollars?

That's insane. A rich business without debt in the gaming industry where each AAA cost bazillions to make? No wonder they are excellent talent retainers, Nintendo's execs are apparently some of the very best in this industry!

Microsoft buying out Nintendo any minute now.

then maybe they can afford to "roll the dice" on their many dormant franchises that generations of gamers have been clamoring for. 😐

@Dragonite89 lol, sure.. your advice on how to make business will be heard by the richest compny on Japan, they are taking notes.

@Greatluigi 0.1%???? lol.. I doubt it....

For anyone confused, as I was, how a company making video games could be the richest company in an entire country, well “subtracting debt” as this method does is the key. The typical way most people look at company is market capitalization, and by that metric Nintendo is 13th in Japan, which I still think is great for a video game company, but car companies do tend to be bigger. Sony is 4th on this list.

https://companiesmarketcap.com/japan/largest-companies-in-japan-by-market-cap/

There are several other metrics on the web page people typically look at to determine how a company is doing, you can sort them, Nintendo is way down the list on most of those.

Still, must be nice to have no debt, but it seems to run counter to the values of capitalism.🤷🏻‍♂️

@MattmanForever and dear sir, I just wanted to point out, there's no reason to believe BS rumors, when the actual news are, that Nintendo is doing exceptionally well.

Thanks to Gary Bowser funding them money until the day he die, Nintendo will likely never ran out of money.

@Nontendo_4DS quit believing BS man, and, stock rises and falls every day, and, on this particular case, it's because Japan has entered on an economy receyourssion. I guess, according to your logic, that the delay of something that has not even been announced, made the stock fall of all Japanese companies.

⬆ Something for anyone who has a problem with how Nintendo does business to remember.

Richest company in Japan. Debt-free. Whatever your opinion of their decisions, they seem to be doing alright in what is no doubt a very tumultuous time for any business.

@Pat_trick Oh no, I made a joke

It's unreal that Sony's debt is 3x more than what the richest company in Japan has in their account.

How is this even possible? It must be because of that there're some real die-hard Sony fanboys in the Japanese government, who constantly gives huge loans (or?) to Sony to being afloat for any longer until they needs more cash to survive.

How often doesn't we heard from Sony fanboys that Nintendo will going third-party for them "soon", or that Nintendo is going to be bankruptcy "soon",
Here is the harsh reality for them, but of course they will as always making their own interpretation of it, just to fitting their own little world.

Before condemning me as an Nintendo fanboy, I has also 4 different PS-consoles, but not PS5, since I'm not interested of playing the same game again and again.

Well Nintendo does not have an urgent need of releasing "Switch "2 yet. They can afford delaying it for +5 years, or even +10 years and still being rich...

Too many Nintendo hating people out there (here and everywhere) who just wants malice to Nintendo for 24/7.

The facts remains.
Nintendo is the richest in Japan.
And has zero in debt.
No need for "Switch 2" yet.
Switch still sells.

Despite of it people still groans moaning about that Nintendo is on the brink of death despite having zero in debt, while Sony has +30bn in debts!
It's the opposite actually. This just shows how much many hates Nintendo out there.

i think market value of a company is a more useful statistic then whether a company has no debt and cash on hand..

sony has more market value then nintendo

sony has invested their money in buying companies and also making hundred of millions of dollar games..nintendo just sits on it's money...

@mariomaster96 Oh no, I made an observation about your joke.

Nintendo will always be doomed.

Doomed to be rich.

AND still can't get a better production team for the Zelda film

:/

I thought it was Toyota or Sony, but okay

nintendo is called the richest because it has the most cash on hand not because of company value..

Did someone say Sony?

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/19/sony-gaming-margin-questioned-after-ps5-sales-cut-sparks-stock-plunge.html

https://companiesmarketcap.com/japan/largest-companies-in-japan-by-market-cap/ nintendo is ranked 13th...

What?! And they were able to do this without mass layoffs and even… gulp… increasing their employees wages?

Impossible!

Just a friendly "The more you know ..."

Cash on hand at this level is generally seen as a bad thing. It's an indicator that your business isn't agile enough to find new opportunities for investment and your leadership is too conservative. The only time Microsoft and Apple has held generally negative (or "sell") ratings among investors in the past two decade a key point given as a reason was too much cash on hand.

That said, Nintendo gets a bit of a pass here because the Yen is underperforming to the point you could argue spending your Yen reserves while they are worth 70% of what might be considered their "stable" rate isn't the best idea, and opportunities to spend it in Japan are pretty tight, given recession and labor shortages.

I also see a lot of comments about "people only care about market cap" to argue how other companies are "bigger" or "better" and that's not really accurate. Market cap is a made up number, and while investors do look at it, what they "care" about is if it's overvalued or undervalued. No one outside of fanboys and a COE doing a stage show actually cares about the objective "worth" of a company, because it's really not a thing. Do we include Nintendo's 220m stake in MLB? How about their $33 billion stake in The Pokémon Company? If you're on the playground taking about how your team is better then the other guys team, sure, why not!

But from an investment standpoint no one really cares how big you are. They care if you are bigger or smaller then everyone else seems to think you are. This is no meaningful, completely objective way to rate the worth of a company, and that's even more true when rating it against an other company. All indicators must be taken together and are extremely subjective.

That statement is literally the only reason a stock market exist.

Good.
Now put some budget to make ARMS 2 or any Cartoonish Boxing / Kickboxing games for Switch 2.
My body is ready.

@johnedwin not sure I agree with nintendo sitting on money, I mean they opened up the theme park stuff and were involved with the Mario movie. Maybe that's not enough for you? (not being sarcastic)

@johnedwin

That Sony Kool Aid must be something else! Sony is eternally in debt, over $31 Billion and counting! You’re talking about market share for a company that literally has no value. They didn’t even make this list as a Japanese company. That is major red flags of a poorly run business. These investments you’re touting Sony for are clearly not panning out for them. The only negative you can surmise of Nintendo being the richest, 100 % debt free as well as having the highest liquidity in all of Japan…is that they’re not spending their money ?

@Dragonite89 why? The business model works, games remain manageable to develop and fans have been happy. Why change it?

Wonder what place does Sony gaming division occupied on that ranking

Hey, American Companies (and some outside), pay attention you could learn something.

This is what happens when a company doesn't divide and attack their loyal paying customers. This is what happens when a company doesn't chase after social media clout and audiences that don't give you money in the end. This is what happens when a company doesn't ride the "current thing" and force feed the audience of nonsense that's completely outside your lane.

Bottom line. Nintendo is an entertainment Company. That's what they do. That's what they did. Simple.

@Dragonite89 I can almost guarantee you a big reason they're so wealthy is specifically because their hardware is cheaper. They sell it at a profit, and the returns on game development are greater due to a lack of focus on 4k visuals.

@HeadPirate
I disagree with your assessment of the health of a cash on hand situation. Long term investors want cash on hand to fund growth in product development, meet financial obligations, retain key contributors to strategic growth and weather downturns in the market place. The lack of debt is an even more compelling reason to view Nintendo as a healthy growth oriented company. This is even more obvious when you consider that Sony, who has a larger market share diversifying portfolio is pulling back in several markets including video games, entertainment and new product development. Microsoft, an enormous company by market capitalization, has changed strategies as well but they derive most of their income from cloud markets. The US market has been over run with short sellers and the recent trend is to do IPO in other markets or grow organically.

@Zidentia

I mean, you can't "disagree" with what I said because it's not my opinion. It's just me relating an established fact about economics, agreed on by a overwhelming consensus of investment professionals and economists.

If you want to ignore that reality, that's your prerogative, but you might want to talk to a professional before investing any money because you think tons of cash on hand makes a company healthy.

Too little cash is worse, obviously, but you can simply research why too much cash on hand is a risk factor for investment. You'll find plenty of explanations from people who understand it better then me.

And, again, stocks are speculative. That's the whole point. If their was an "always right" answer, we wouldn't have a stock market. High cash on hand is a risk factor and a negative indicator. But you can never know how it's fully impacting a company in any given case. Like I said in my post, Nintendo has good reason not to spend cash right now because of the weak Yen.

But on the other side, they lost 6% of their stock value yesterday despite all this cash because the Switch 2 "might" be delayed. High cash on hand is a clear indicator that if there IS a problem with the Switch 2 supply and logistics, they DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SOLVE IT. Because if their was a salutation, they would use their huge cash on hand to make it happen. The problem isn't they don't have the money to pay someone to fix the problem, it's that there is no fix. So, it compounds that bad news.

It's almost like ... it's really complicated and resists simplicity.

@Edu23XWiiU Not being particularly versed on the reasons why stocks rise and fall, I tend to believe the opinions of those who are. You may choose not to believe them, that's your prerogative, but you're railing against a narrative that doesn't exist.

Is this where we give expert wiki opinions about a business that has been around longer than anyone here has been alive due to incredibly diligent decisions and insane foresight? Surely someone's knowledge gleamed from a YouTube video essay will know what Nintendo should really be doing instead of what has made them so successful.

@HeadPirate
I can certainly disagree because that is not the consensus among all traders only shorters. The rest of your response is not really relevant. The presence of larger amounts of cash does not indicate a problem with product cycles. The most likely answer is they feel that not everything is in play yet and the cash may be for other reasons. I traded for many years and it is much simpler than you acknowledge.

This was basically the same ten years ago. It was reported back then that Nintendo had $11 billion in cash reserves, despite the Wii U being a flop (at least compared to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4). In comparison, Sony was hemorrhaging money, with the PlayStation division being the only successful division within the company. Looks like that hasn't changed.

@Dragonite89 So you think it'd be a good idea for Nintendo to make extremely powerful hardware with a less than two hours battery life that costs over 500€ and is sold at a loss just so they can then lose all of their money through that and exponentially increasing budgets of your so called "modern games" like Spider-Man 2 that cost over 300 million dollars to produce which would lead to them making barely any profit ever.

@johnedwin i dont think john has any idea but thanks for the comments

We should all aspire to be debt-free

Time for a party, where everyone has to bring their own cup for a glass of water.

@HeadPirate For an investor, a company sitting on huge amounts of cash is not especially interesting, because inflation chips away at its value. But it does not necessarily mean a company is stagnating.

Nintendo is diversifying its portfolio with movies and theme parks, and preparing a new console. These are long-term and high-risk investments, so it's good that they have the cash reserves to weather the storm.

@Nontendo_4DS if you do follow the people that know what they're talking about, you'll know that the stock fall is because of Japan's current recession, whereas YouTubers who barely finished school and make videos about farts, those are the people who say the stock fall is because a console that has not been announced, has been delayed. Keep believing that morons tell you.

@Edu23XWiiU I do enjoy CNBC's and Reuter's fart videos.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/02/19/nintendo-switch-2-reportedly-delayed-until-2025-shares-fall.html

https://www.reuters.com/technology/nintendo-shares-slide-reports-delayed-switch-successor-release-2024-02-19/

@Nontendo_4DS https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/business/japan-q4-gdp.html

Wonder if all of those Japanese that had their stock down, also were affected by the delay of something that has not even been announced yet?