Could Apple buy Nintendo?

ghost_user_name · February 5, 2002 7:50AM

I dont know I am asking? I think it would be amazing to put Apple and Nintendo together. Gamers rejoice, your mac is now a Gamecube.

Wouldnt it be cool?

I know this has been mentioned before, but what do you think?

[ 02-05-2002: Message edited by: Macintosh ]

ryanthegreat · February 5, 2002 7:52AM

Why would apple buy nintendo? Why would nintendo want to merge with apple? They both seem to be doing fine on their own...

applenut · February 5, 2002 7:53AM

[quote]Originally posted by Macintosh:

I dont know I am asking? I think it would be amazing to put Apple and Nintendo together. Gamers rejoice, your mac is now a Gamecube.

Wouldnt it be cool?

I know this has been mentioned before, but what do you think?<hr></blockquote>

why would either company benefit? nintendo sells more gamecubes than apple sells macs. and apple's core market isn't exactly gaming and buying nintendo would be a bad business decision for them.

don't see the connection

ghost_user_name · February 5, 2002 7:56AM

Both companies are similar in that they are hardware and software. Their business models are very similar.

Nintendo would benifit because if every Mac was Gamecube compatible it would increase Nintendo's market share. Both systems are based on the PPC, so why not?

Is it even a financial possibility?

applenut · February 5, 2002 8:00AM

[quote]Originally posted by Macintosh:

Both companies are similar in that they are hardware and software. Their business models are very similar.

Nintendo would benifit because if every Mac was Gamecube compatible it would increase Nintendo's market share. Both systems are based on the PPC, so why not?

Is it even a financial possibility?<hr></blockquote>

tons of companies make the hardware/software. just because they both do that doesn't mean they are a match made in heaven.

I don't think many people have a problem dishing out 199 for a gamecube if they want a nintendo game.

and the hype would die out eventualy. look at VGS. Play PS games on your mac. great the first few months but interest died down because console games are not meant to be played on the computer and it just didn't make sense. (Still use VGS BTW, works well, wish an OS X version was coming)

fran441 · February 5, 2002 8:01AM

Sorry, but this is a HORRIBLE idea. Jobs and Miyamoto's egos would clash like you wouldn't believe.

Plus, as it stands now, the Mac has more games out than the Game Cube.

I don't see why Apple would be interested in buying Nintendo (as gaming is not the main reason to buy a computer), or why Nintendo would want to be aquired (they completely dominate the handheld market).

Just because both use PPC processors doesn't mean they were meant to be together.

edit: applenut also makes a lot of good points.

[ 02-05-2002: Message edited by: Fran441 ]

torifile · February 5, 2002 8:13AM

When 3 of the top 4 topics are started by one person, I think it's time to take away some topic starting privileges. Especially for such a stupid idea. Do we have to listen to your every brain fart?

sizzle chest · February 5, 2002 8:18AM

Sometimes smaller companies do buy bigger companies, but not too often does a smaller company buy a HUGE company. Seems unlikely to me.

ghost_user_name · February 5, 2002 8:21AM

It would solve the "mac has no games" argument. It was talked about before here and was taken seriously then. There were even rumors that Apple would partner with Nintendo. I also heard that the new iMac was going to be Gamecube compatible, remember?

I am not the only one with this "brain fart."

macaddict · February 5, 2002 9:25AM

[quote]as gaming is not the main reason to buy a computer<hr></blockquote>

What the hell are you talking about?

Macintosh, easy on the topic splurging. You're gonna make the server crap out.

ghost_user_name · February 5, 2002 9:41AM

For the love of God and all that is Holy, NO!!!

ghost_user_name · February 5, 2002 9:44AM

[quote]Originally posted by Macintosh:

I also heard that the new iMac was going to be Gamecube compatible, remember?<hr></blockquote>

That possibility is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY. Even if Apple's standard GPU was up to snuff, you do know that GameCube discs spin the opposite direction as DVDs, right?

colorclassicg4 · February 6, 2002 7:41AM

Here is some perspective:

Company Market Capitalization

Apple $8.695B

Nintendo $26.7B

...

Best Buy $14.5B

Microsoft $325B

Nvidia $8.966B

The question is not "could Apple buy Nintendo", but "Would Nintendo notice if it bought Apple?"

You will note that Nvidia is a somewhat larger corporation than Apple. That's a sobering thought.

pipelinestall · February 6, 2002 8:11AM

It depends how you define company "size". All those companies are larger than Apple in terms of their market cap. Indeed, that's reflective of how much money Apple would need to "buy" Nintendo.

But market cap isn't the best way to judge a company's size.

- 3 or 4 years ago, Apple's market cap was 1 - 2 billion. Now it is around 9 billion. Is it a 4 times larger corporation in terms of employees, revenues, assets, equity, etc? No.

- Apple has a yearly revenue of almost 6 billion. NVidia of around 1 billion. Apple has almost 10,000 employees. Nvidia has less than 1,000. But Apple's share price is about 2.5 times book value. NVidia's is about 15 times book value. It would seem that in terms of revenue and head count, Apple is much larger than NVidia. In terms of market cap, NVidia is a bit bigger. If Apple's share price was 15 times book value, its market cap would be around $150 billion. Apple's low stock price reflects low investor confidence rather than its "size".

- Gateway has about the same amount of revenues at Apple. Has more than double the employees. But its market cap is 1.53 billion. Indeed, it is trading at around book value right now. Is Gateway a bigger company in some sense of word? Yes. Is it 5 times smaller as the market cap would imply? No.

Don't get me wrong. Market cap is an important figure, and very relevant when discussing company buyouts and mergers. But using market cap to determine the "size" of a company is not meaningful.

[Edit: grammar]

[ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: PipelineStall ]

colorclassicg4 · February 6, 2002 11:37AM

I don't disagree with any of your analysis, PipelineStall, and you're certainly correct that company "size" is a vague concept.

Ultimately, though, look at the title of the thread. Market cap is the answer.

jeremiah rich · February 6, 2002 12:30PM

They are two completly different types of companies. Nintendo wants to focus ONLY on gaming, not all of the areas like Apple. I think it would ruin at least Nintendo's image because of who they claim to be, what they stand for, and their aim. I personally prefer them to stay seperate.... Of coruse I am not worrying, as I think there is pretty much no chance of this happening.

[ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: Jeremiah Rich ]

wrong robot · February 6, 2002 1:26PM

[quote]Originally posted by ColorClassicG4:

I don't disagree with any of your analysis, PipelineStall, and you're certainly correct that company "size" is a vague concept.

Ultimately, though, look at the title of the thread. Market cap is the answer.<hr></blockquote>

[quote] Originally posted by pipelinestall:

 It depends how you define company "size". All those companies are larger than Apple in terms of their market cap. Indeed, that's reflective of how much money Apple would need to "buy" Nintendo. <hr></blockquote>

colorclassic as you can see, pipelinestall addressed that his analysis DID in fact relate to the title, his response was more to correct your assumption(or misinterpretation) of the market cap=company size statement.

BTW pipelinestall that was a great post, really informative and well thought out

Could Apple buy Nintendo?

Comments