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Resident_Hazard on 11 March 2008
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Rath said:
ion-storm said:
Rath said:
 

Nintendo is both more valuable (anymore? I don't know actually but they certainly were) and more profitable than Sony. They have smaller revenue and less employees but thats not really what matters. Nintendo is a little bit similar to Google, both reasonably small, very focused on a single sector and amazingly profitable.


Being as this is only a guess, so no one say I said it was a fact. But I imagine Sony has a lot more money in fixed assets than Nintendo. Remember, revenue is not the only source of money a company has. As a whole I imagine Sony is worth a lot more than Nintendo.

 

A companies value is dictated by the share price and for a time (and possibly still) Nintendo was far more valuable than Sony. Basically people would pay more to own 1% of Ninty than for 1% of Sony, including fixed assets.

 Plus, Nintendo is almost certain to have far larger cash reserves with the massive profits they are currently making.

 


Having higher value stock doesn't mean Nintendo is a bigger company than Sony.  Nintendo is surely rolling in dough right now, but they've always been a financially responsible company and have won awards in Japan for the effeciency with which they do business.  It's finally paying off for them.  But as far as company size goes, Nintendo is nothing compared to Sony.  Nintendo does not make computers, electronics, TVs, DVD/Blu-Ray players, nor does Nintendo make movies, own television companies or music labels.  Sony does all of that.  Nintendo's involvement in television and movies is far, far, far outweighed by the influence Sony has in those areas. 

I think it's debatable which company has the larger cash reserves.  Currently, Nintendo is pulling in tons and tons of profit--money in the bank.  Sony is too, just not on the PS3.  Sony can fight to bring success to struggling parts of it's business because it's making money in other departments--like movies, television, or music; or some of the electronics or computers they make.  The only way Nintendo is beating Sony is in percentages:  They are making more money for every Wii and DS sold than Sony is for every PS2, PS3, and PSP sold.  Percentage wise, Nintendo is more profitable now, but I'm willing to bet that on a whole, Sony is--overall--making more money from all their branches combined. 

Nintendo's intelligence with their finances goes up their with their creativity and different thinking as why they are a hallmark of the video game industry.  It kept them afloat during fiascos like the Virtual Boy and relative failures like the N64 and GameCube.  Through it all, they remained profitable.

Market share of the video game industry doesn't mean anything about a company's size.  Sony had most of the market share last generation, but no one would ever stand up and say that they were a bigger company than Microsoft.  The attach rate for their console was higher, that's all.