Company Research Project.By Joshua Bedford

Nintendo was a playing card company  Nintendo [ originally called ‘Nintendo Koppai’] is a Japanese game console retailer that was founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi who originally from handmade ‘Hanafuda’ cards {a new type of Japanese playing cards which are used to play a number game which he invented}.  So the first Nintendo was not the console giant you see today. It only produced these Hanafuda cards and they became so popular that Fusajiro had to hire assistants to keep up with demand. They are still popular in Japan and there now is a tournament called the Nintendo cup.

Nintendo tried lots of ideas... After the Yamauchi family had been producing Hanafuda for 67 years Hiroshi Yamauchi Fusajiro’s grandson, realised that sales were dropping and so began to print Disney characters on their cards, after that didn’t work they set up a taxi business, a TV network and a food company and several other things to get their money increasing. All of these eventually failed and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics their Hanafuda cards dropped again and Nintendo’s stock price plummeted to ¥60 which was equivalent to $0.72 of our money....none worked

Nintendo Moves into Games So in 1966 Nintendo joined with a toy company with the Ultra Hand an extendable arm developed by its maintenance engineer Gunpei Yokoi in his free time. Yokoi was moved from maintenance to the new "Nintendo Games" department as a product developer. Nintendo continued to produce popular toys, including the Ultra Machine and the Kousenjuu series of electronic shooting games. Despite some successful products, Nintendo struggled to meet the fast development required in the toy market, and fell behind the more well- established companies.

Nintendo develops Mario Bros  In 1973, its focus shifted to family entertainment venues with the Laser Clay Shooting System, using the same shooting technology used in Nintendo's Kousenjuu series of toys, and they were set up in abandoned bowling alleys.  Following some success, Nintendo developed several more gun machines for the emerging arcade era. While the Laser Clay Shooting System ranges had to be shut down following excessive costs, Nintendo had found a new market; electronics.  Nintendo’s best selling game series character Mario was first released in

Nintendo has been very successful Nintendo has now a large variety of products and it is now selling to lots of places all over the world.

Nintendo global initiatives  Nintendo’s focus has been mainly getting the company back on track from it’s three week low and have been focusing on the realise of the Wii U and hoping that it will be able to do it.

Financial Information  Nintendo is worth $15.86b on New York Stock Exchange  But it’s main stock market is the Tokyo ¥1.3Trillion (yen) Tokyo Stock Exchange

Recent news 1. Nintendo will realise its Wii U on the 18 th of NovemberWii U on the 18 th of November 2. It is expected from its realise is expected to sell 3.5 million of them meaning that share prices may go up.sell 3.5 million 3. However, Stock market analysts recommend to hold the stock after a recent annual profit forecast was cut by half due to financial currencies and lower console sales world widerecent annual profit forecast was cut by half