I've always been curious about the relationship between Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creature, what "The Pokemon Company" is, and wondered who actually owns what. As far as I can recall from past research, the following details are (I believe) accurate:
-The Pokemon Company is owned via a three-way split between Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creature (all at 33%).
-Contrary to what many people seem to believe, though, The Pokemon Company doesn't actually own the Pokemon brand, but rather simply manage it.
-As the Pokemon Company doesn't own the brand, the fact that Nintendo owns less than 50% of it does not in itself mean they are at risk of losing Pokemon should the other two decide to leave, and that's before considering the following point which further binds them together.
-The real reason you won't be seeing Pokemon on any platforms without Nintendo's approval, though, is that Nintendo is the sole owner of all the trademarks relating to Pokemon. That is to say, the name "Pokemon", the name of every Pokemon creature and character that exists to this point, and other items/locations from the games.
-Nintendo owns about half of Game Freak's shares
Basically then, while all three (Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures) own the Pokemon copyright, Nintendo is the majority shareholder of Game Freak and, more importantly, is the only one of the three that owns all of the trademarks associated with Pokemon. This means that, in some weird world where the other two somehow divorced themselves from Nintendo, they'd have to start from scratch without the name "Pokemon", the likeness, the logos, or any of the characters/creatures.
To sum it up in one line, Nintendo owns Pikachu until they decide they don't want him, and that day may never come.
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