Nintendo currently has $4.7 billion in the bank

[Arkaign]

Mnementh said:

Baalzamon said:

For those looking for the in between numbers, here you go (in Yen, with some rounding done for my calculations):

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Current Assets	1.59T	1.47T	1.14T	1.19T	1.02T
Total Assets	1.76T	1.67T	1.37T	1.45T	1.31T
Current Liabilities	407.54B	333.3B	155.44B	194.48B	155.65B
Total Liabilities	424.4B	352.44B	177.38B	220.36B	187.97B
Total Assets less Liabilities	1.34T	1.32T	1.19T	1.23T	1.12T
3/31 Exchange Rate	.0108	.0121	.0122	.0106	.0097
Effective Total Assets less Liabilities in Dollars	14.47B	15.97B	14.52B	13.04B	10.86B

The company really isn't in a bad position. The main reason their cash is so much lower in US dollars is nothing other than the exchange rate.

This really should be put into the OP.

Actually when you look at debt, Nintendo is in FAR better shape now than in 2010. They must really be cleeaning their financial house.

Oh, and respectfully, anyone who thinks that Microsoft would ever buy Nintendo is bordering on total insanity. Microsoft as an entity is not closely tied to gaming, it's just not one of their fundamental pillars. If Xbox was a solo company that someone created with a moderate cash investment, it would have been shuttered long ago. Common sense wise, XBO will be the final entry of theirs into the console market due to the financials making no sense. Microsoft is a western corporation used to truly massive margins and economies of gargantuan scale. Their Xbox plan was built around this kind of ethos. Xbox is not Nintendo, they cannot profit in a niche market space. Even during the 360 years, they lost around 3.5 billion in the totality of 2005 through 2012. Their immense losses were never covered by their small profits on the tail end of the gen. And OG Xbox of course cost them a ton to get their foot in the door (which is understandable to some extent, however continuing to be a net loss after more than a decade of activity and the abdication of the entire vision of the XBO is pretty much the nails in the coffin for Xbox as a whole).

It's really a matter of time now, not a question of 'if'. Microsoft is not a charity, and they don't care about, nor depend upon the gaming sector. The same can be said of any gaming company. Sony didn't make the PS4 because #4thegamers, they made it to make money. They simply did a better job than Microsoft of achieving their goals. If XBO doesn't magically jump-start to massive success (their XBO business model probably depends on 100M+ install base to break even over a 7 year generation), you can expect to see XBO put in a 'holding pattern' model where they don't invest in it more than a minimal amount, and eventually the directive will get out for EOL on XBL and wrapping up of company obligations, liquidation or vaulting of IPs, etc.