http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTKB00289220071015
Nintendo market value tops 10 trillion yen on Wii
Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:58am EDT
TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) surpassed 10 trillion yen ($85 billion) in market value on Monday, joining Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T: Quote, Profile, Research) as one of the bluest of Japanese blue-chip stocks.
Toyota is the world's most valuable automaker and Mitsubishi UFJ is Japan's largest bank.
Nintendo shares have soared more than fivefold over the past two years, driven by blistering demand for the DS handheld player and the Wii game console.
Shares in the videogame maker rose 4.6 percent to 70,800 yen as of 0434 GMT, bringing its market capitalization to 10.03 trillion yen, on expectations the DS and Wii will lead rival game gear in the coming year-end shopping season.
Although Nintendo's market cap is still less than half that of Toyota's 23 trillion yen, it is 80 percent higher than that of rival Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research), whose total revenue is more than eight times as big as Nintendo's.
Kyoto-based Nintendo offers easy-to-play but innovative games to expand the game population beyond core gamers, who are often young males, helping the Wii and DS outsell Sony's rival machines -- PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable.
Shares in Nintendo got a further boost after the company said last week it would start selling its new "Wii Fit" home fitness game in Japan on December 1.
The new game, which features a pressure-sensing mat that looks like a bathroom scale and lets users "head" virtual soccer balls and experience ski jumping on a TV screen, is expected to be the next major sales driver for the Wii after initial demand was ignited by the popularity of "Wii Sports" software.
Nintendo, known for such game characters as Mario, Pokemon and Zelda, competes with Sony and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) in the global videogame market.
