Nintendo: Why did Bill Gates think he could buy so easily?

[Omni God+2]

The Amazing Willy Wanker

Screw Bill Gates! He needs to keep is grubby little hands off Nintendo!
******** Bill gates, ******** him up his stupid a**!!! scream

VG just gets dumber and dumber...they're gonna have to make some kind of newbie band soon, a tax on thread creating or something.

[Teh Sessy]

Im glad Nintendo didn't sell themselves to Microsoft. I think Bill Gate's should just worry about the X-box and stop trying to buy everyone else out.

[Venom_Soul]

Genedefect

RiniMyagus

Man..Can't Bill just give it a rest already?;>_> He already has enough money as it is,the greedy jerk.

Ohh yea, so greedy, that is why he has given away more than he currently has in the bank in the last 25 years. Bet the citizens of countries in Africa with high HIV infection rates that he helps fund medication for would SOOO agree with you ^___^

Gamine

Last I heard about this was a few weeks ago, and it was just a tiny little article in a magazine, where Gates was quoted as saying that if Yamauchi ever considered selling his shares in the company, he wouldn't object to buying them. It wasn't an offer, it was just a comment that escalated into a rumour (which actually raised Nintendos shares razz )

I don't remember anything actually coming of this.

Actually this was a mis-quote that several sites (including Gamespot) debunked. I am sure that if Nintendo did come knocking they would consider it, but as of right now MS would probably be short on Cash due to the recent large one time dividend payout and increase in quarterly dividend hitting them for about 75 Billion$ over the next 3 - 5 years.

Corian

I was posting on the official Nintendo forums today (if you've been there, you should know what my username is over there) and I saw a very interesting post made by one of the higher users of the forums: Bill Gates offered Nintendo <b>25 BILLION DOLLARS</b> to sell the company to Microsoft and back the X-Box (yes, you read the price correctly).

How do you feel about this? I feel that Bill Gates saw Nintendo as a formidable opponent in the console war and wanted to take any profits tyhey could from Nintendo's First Party Games such as the Mario and LoZ series.

They made this offer back in 1999 shortly after they first decided they wanted to enter the Game Console market. They knew that if they could get a brand like Nintendo's behind their console combined with their Software development tools they would stand a stronger chance in the market. At the time, Nintendo's stock was approaching it's peak. They were actually riding quite high on the profits they were making on the N64.

At the time Nintendo's market cap was about 23 Billion and they had 3 Billion in the bank. Today they have about 5 Billion in the bank and their market cap sits around 10 Billion. Nintendo in part refused because they thought they were worth more and they figured they could survive without Microsoft. So far they have been both right and wrong. Time will ultimately tell

Microsoft (Bill Gates is not Microsoft, he doesn't even run the Home & Entertainment Division directly) of course does view Nintendo as a formidable opponent. Just like they view Sun, Palm, Real, OSS, IBM, Sony, ect.

I imagine Microsoft wanted to buy Nintendo to acquire the brand as well as their titles. I imagine they would have left Nintendo as a virtually independant entity similar to what they have done with Bungie, Rare, Great Plains, and other companies they have acquired. Why mess with what works. Then why would MS buy them you ask? Because a jointly developed console between them would have had lots of advantages. MS's hardware design combined with Nintendo's hardware elegance. MS's software development tools to draw developers, Nintendo's games to draw consumers. It would have been a match made in heaven.


As a final note, being the size of Nintendo at the time, and the Size of Microsoft, in some ways it would have been a merger and not neccessarily a "Buyout" Buyout is generally used to refer to a company buying up a majority stake in a company against it's will to take them over. For example, Oracle is currenting trying to "Buyout" Peoplesoft. Microsoft was more than likely negotiating back and forth for a merger of the 2 companies. One that would benefit both companies investors. If it had happened it would have been because both companies saw a positive effect for their investors from the merger.

you do raise several very good points but I still think Bill gates is a greedy bum even though the owner of Ikea has become the richest man in the world, and no matter how much sense business wise it makes for thetwo companies to merge I just wouldn't feel right with it and i think if this ever happens I'll probably tarde in my GB Sp for a PSP. I know it's not logical as nintendo would more then likely remain unchanged but deep down it just wouldn't feel the same.

[The Amazing Willy Wanker]

Warrior_of_Creation

The Amazing Willy Wanker

Screw Bill Gates! He needs to keep is grubby little hands off Nintendo!
******** Bill gates, ******** him up his stupid a**!!! scream

VG just gets dumber and dumber...they're gonna have to make some kind of newbie band soon, a tax on thread creating or something.

Hey, all Im saying is bill gates needs to just mind his own damn bussiness.
I mean, what does he need to buy nintendo for? He'd probably screw it up.

[EliteSteak]

I hate it when people act like Bill Gates is the most greediest man in the world stare k....

Next to Oprah, and a bunch of other famous people I don't know, Bill Gates gives the most amount of money to charity then any other person. Saying he's greedy is like saying that a very popular game is overrated. Just because the game's popular doesn't mean its overrated. It may even mean *gasp* it's a good game! Maybe Bill Gates became rich because he was *gasp* nice and smart.

[i_am_zergling]

Corian

How do you feel about this? I feel that Bill Gates saw Nintendo as a formidable opponent in the console war and wanted to take any profits tyhey could from Nintendo's First Party Games such as the Mario and LoZ series.

um i need to correct you here nintendo isnt a formable oppent for the xbox nintendo is kicking his a**. so he's usign his money to buy out the compitition so he can become the best in the business. now i hate bill gates alot. to the point i want to hire a sniper. the xbox cant run with the nintendo made products so he trys to buy them out. PS2 is even kicking his a**.

[demon boy Laguna]

bill gates is just used to buying his success. he has more money than any of us and it still aint enough.

[Magiss]

Well 25 billion is liek a 1 year profit for nintendo sweatdrop so uh..duno xd but NGC PWNS ALL

[Rawnblade]

EliteWarrior

I hate it when people act like Bill Gates is the most greediest man in the world stare k....

Next to Oprah, and a bunch of other famous people I don't know, Bill Gates gives the most amount of money to charity then any other person. Saying he's greedy is like saying that a very popular game is overrated. Just because the game's popular doesn't mean its overrated. It may even mean *gasp* it's a good game! Maybe Bill Gates became rich because he was *gasp* nice and smart.

Well said.

Hey guys, gates didn't just spawn his money or enter ALLYOURBASEBELONGTOUS on his comp one day, pouring billions of dollars into his bank account. No, he had an idea, made it something big, and bam.

He worked for his money.

Are you guys jealous towards him for having so much money? What would you do if you had billions of dollars to spend, and you needed to aquire something? Would you go the hard way, or use your resources (money) to obtain it?

Bill Gates is using what he has. He's not the scum of the earth or a jerk for using his money.

The Amazing Willy Wanker

Hey, all Im saying is bill gates needs to just mind his own damn bussiness.
I mean, what does he need to buy nintendo for? He'd probably screw it up.

The Nintendo Gamecube is currently the weakest system out, in my opinion.

The Xbox is the most powerful system.

I, myself, like the PS2, so I'm not saying this in a biased way.

Now, how could Gates take the already weakest system, and screw it up? Hmm? He has the resources. You've seen the power of the xbox. He can only make the damn thing better.

So please, enlighten me as how he could screw it up?

[Destruction_King]

KiriA500

Microsoft wants Nintendo to help them sell better in Japan...because the only games that do any good are Dead or Alive (fighting and volleyball), Ninja Gaiden...pretty much any Xbox exclusive Tecmo games.

Xbox just isn't a good system in Japan. Nobody cares.

Nobody cares about it in America either.

[Adriankat]

Without Bill Gates, Linux wouldn't be as good.

You people must not know what its like being rich. You have enough money to be bored, possibly even buy out your favorite gaming companies.

[Omni God+2]

The Amazing Willy Wanker

Warrior_of_Creation

The Amazing Willy Wanker

Screw Bill Gates! He needs to keep is grubby little hands off Nintendo!
******** Bill gates, ******** him up his stupid a**!!! scream

VG just gets dumber and dumber...they're gonna have to make some kind of newbie band soon, a tax on thread creating or something.

Hey, all Im saying is bill gates needs to just mind his own damn bussiness.
I mean, what does he need to buy nintendo for? He'd probably screw it up.

dumber and dumber...

[TerraRising]

Corian

I was posting on the official Nintendo forums today (if you've been there, you should know what my username is over there) and I saw a very interesting post made by one of the higher users of the forums: Bill Gates offered Nintendo <b>25 BILLION DOLLARS</b> to sell the company to Microsoft and back the X-Box (yes, you read the price correctly).

How do you feel about this? I feel that Bill Gates saw Nintendo as a formidable opponent in the console war and wanted to take any profits tyhey could from Nintendo's First Party Games such as the Mario and LoZ series.

Microsoft doesn't make software anymore. Microsoft buys companies who do what they used to do.

For Bill Gates to make an offer to Nintendo and for them to refuse is something rare. Microsoft doesn't hear "no" alot, as you can imagine...

[Bappysaurus]

EliteWarrior

I hate it when people act like Bill Gates is the most greediest man in the world stare k....

Next to Oprah, and a bunch of other famous people I don't know, Bill Gates gives the most amount of money to charity then any other person. Saying he's greedy is like saying that a very popular game is overrated. Just because the game's popular doesn't mean its overrated. It may even mean *gasp* it's a good game! Maybe Bill Gates became rich because he was *gasp* nice and smart.

*Commenting on that good game, and overrated and whatnot* ...*Shoves Halo into your face* 3nodding

[[XDen_RenaX]]

Jeezous christ 25 BILLION BAJABERS O_O. *a-hem* .... I hope Nintendo says no though gonk