MS could buy Sony (16.24B market cap) or Nintendo (14.79B) with the profits of one year.

Nintendo yes, Sony no. Sony has too much revenue stream for that, and well... a gigantic amount of debt.

Wow. That is quite interesting.

I meant that how do MS quarterly profit compare to Nintendo/Sony market cap, not to compare their market caps as I know MS is in another league. But I got the answer and that is just awesome. :)

They could do it, they just have to take all that debt with the assets of the company. I know it's not as easy as I say, but when you purchase a majority of the shares, you obtain the assets and liabilities.

Well yes they could do it, but not only with the profits off one year if I remember correctly, haven't checked Sony's exact debt and asset position lately though. Edit: nvm, was confused for min, i got ya now.

This will give them some elbow room to go into next gen full steam ahead. Looks like it's all systems go for E3!

Good to hear that entertainment and devices is raking in a solid profit. Live members going up too is amazing.

MS isn't even trying at this point, they have been just cruising on their own steam, no aggressive price cuts or anything. And the profits show.

No matter what the sales show, MS definitely played this gen superbly from a business standpoint.

I do not think they could purchase all of Sony's assets though. Heck they sold 2 buildings for 2Bn+.

When you purchase the shares of a company, you purchase its assets and its liabilities. Sony has ~160B on assets, but they also have ~135B on liabilities. Of course MS can't purchase all their assets alone with the profits of one year, but they could purchase a majority of the shares and control the company. The most important data to know the health of a company IMO is the shareholders equity and the profits of the last 3-5 years. When you have losses during several years, and the shareholders equity is in a sharp decline, that company has huge problems, and that's why the share value has been so low.