A pile of cash that doesn't really add to the additional value of Nintendo as a company.

Its not like MS would purchase Nintendo's pile of cash along with the company.

It would be a worse idea than OP's. The main thing that MS has over Nintendo, the valuation of 3rd parties, would be overwritten by Nintendo's desire for absolute control.

Playstation would dominate completely. At least with a Nintendo + MS merger, Nintendo would have access to MS's live infrastructure at the cost of live. The real issue would be that Nintendo wouldn't be a manufacturer any more and thats the true reason this hypothetical would be impossible.

PlayStation is to Big to go to either MS or Nintendo, Nintendo values control, and MS is constantly vying for the living room space. As long as these 3 conditions hold, a merger is impossible.

....  where would that money go then?

It would remain with those responsible for selling Nintendo.

If A is Nintendo the company

B is the stockpile of money they made from profits

C is Nintendo's Board

and D is Microsoft then:

A(BC) | D-> (BC) | AD

or

If Nintendo's board sold Nintendo to MS, the money acquired would add onto the stockpile with which they would walk of with.

HOWEVER, Nintendo isn't run by robots, so it is unlikely anyone on this site will live to see Nintendo sell the company off.

i was talking about the xbox division. as you know, this thread is about the gaming aspects of both companies.

please dont play the victim card, its getting quite boring. 

nintendo will never sell its assets like that, 

How do you know? There is not really precedents for this kind of thing.

they only way MS could buy nintendo would be a buyout. 

A buyout is a lot more complicated, and would require MS investing in Nintendo rather than simply buying it.

also the OP question was if they aquired nintendo,  not nintendo's assets and IP's.   When people say one company aquired another its a buy out.

That doesn't make much sense considering Nintendo's assets are what it consists of.

and are you really suggesting that 5-10 billion in cash, bonds and investments doesnt ad much to its market cap?

It raises its stock value but not its market value. The shareholders own those investments/bonds hence they own that "cash"

MS would need a controlling stake which is even more unlikely than Nintendo as a whole being sold off.

Thus if MS was buying out Nintendo, then yes it then the cash reserves would be applicable, but only because it drives the stock price up. It has little to do with the market value directly, just like the stock price has little to do with the market value directly.