Nintendo overtakes Sony in market cap
TOKYO: Nintendo Co. Ltd., maker of the Wii gaming console, became one of the top 10 most valuable companies in Japan Monday when it outstripped electronics major Sony Corporation in market capitalization.
Meanwhile, the Kyoto-based company's gaming console outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 by three to one in Japan and by more than two to one in the United States so far during this year, according to data compiled by Japanese game magazine publishing company Enterbrain and U.S.-based research firm NPD.
The company's market capitalization stood at 6.54 trillion yen ($53 billion), when its shares rose to 46,350 yen, a record high, Monday morning. This surpassed Sony's market capitalization of 6.48 trillion yen. However, the shares closed, down 0.8 per cent, at 45,100 yen, reducing the value to 6.39 trillion yen. The company finished just outside the top 10 in 11th position, behind Sony and followed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
Demand for Nintendo's DS handheld game players also outstripped Sony's PlayStation Portable console. The company has offered several innovative and easy-to-use game software, with which it could attract several game players to its fold. The strong sales of Wii and DS have also seen several software makers developing games for these consoles.
Sony, on the other hand, was affected by production delays and a very slow pickup in sales of its PS3. The console's higher price compared with Wii's and the latter's innovative wand-like controller drew several game enthusiasts away from PS 3.
Enterbrain said Nintendo sold 251,794 Wii consoles in May in Japan, which beat PlayStation 3 sales by a margin of five-to-one. The company sold 338,000 Wii players in the U.S. during the month, compared with 81,600 PS 3 units, according to data compiled by NPD. Microsoft Corp. had sold 154,900 Xbox 360 consoles during the month.
Nintendo posted 966.5 billion yen in revenue during the year ended March 2007 and it has forecast the revenue to go up to 1.14 trillion yen during the current year. This will exceed the revenue of the game division of Sony.
A Nintendo spokesperson welcomed the report. He said the company's sales in the U.S. have not reached their full potential.
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