Bloomberg: Nintendo Market Value Passes Sony on Pokemon Go Frenzy

Nintendo’s value jumped above $39 billion Tuesday in Tokyo, topping Sony, and extending a run that began after the app become a viral phenomenon.

Shares of Japan's Nintendo Co. soared another 14 percent on Tuesday, more than doubling the firm's market capitalization to 4.5 trillion yen ($42.5 billion) in just seven sessions since the mobile game Pokemon GO was launched in the United States.

"I've never seen the trend of such a big company's shares changing so quickly in such a short period of time," said Takashi Oba, senior strategist at Okasan Securities.

The amusing thing here is that simple association with Pokemon is causing stocks to rise at this point. Take McDonalds, for example:

McDonald’s Holdings Co. (Japan) saw its shares jump as much as 23 percent, the biggest daily gain since its July 2001 listing after it started giving away figurines based on Pokemon characters such as Pikachu with sales of Happy Meals on Friday.

"Investors are flocking to Pokemon-related stocks and McDonald’s Japan is one of those benefiting from the boom," Mitsushige Akino, a Tokyo-based executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management, told Bloomberg News.

As well as a company that literally sells bread, because that bread happens to be Pokemon branded:

Shares in First Baking Co, a bakery firm with annual sales of 25 billion yen, saw its shares rise 18 percent on Tuesday as the firm sells "Pokemon Bread" among other breads wrapped with character-decorated bags.

Holy shit.

The good news here is that Nintendo's stock has rebounded after a historic four year long low owing to the Wii U, thanks to Pokemon GO. The better news is that Nintendo's brand cachet has improved, which they needed, going into the NX, if they were to have a shot at mainstream market penetration ever again.

The hope here is that Nintendo can capitalize on this to sell the NX- as of right now, we at least know that Nintendo's mobile (and/or Pokemon!) related projects are doing well enough and inspiring confidence in investors enough that the company can continue to stick around to making dedicated hardware.

SOURCE

Nicely done Nintendo.

And yeah, Pokemon has been good for businesses worldwide. Not just Nintendo.

It will come down, besides for the average gamer who actually cares. Be great if Nintendo could release a decent product for once.

In my local park, i saw a grown up men running in the bushes trying to capture a pokemon. Wtf is wrong with people? I've also noticed something related to Nintendo's stock going up. When it goes up, its always because of their brand new fad. Its never going up because of a quality product, no. Its going up because of their brand new gimmick and nothing else. But hey, this is on what this company survives and that's much better than seeing them go away.

You mean like the cool games they've been making for the last 30 years?

So I downloaded the app. I'm grabbing my bike today, some supplies, see how many I can catch.

I tried it out a little earlier and I think the app is shit and it felt very embarrassing to do, especially for someone with shyness and social anxiety and a fear for traffic. So this should be a nice challenge personality-wise.

Of course the stock is gonna go down again. That is what stocks do. They go up, they go down, they go up again. You can spin this any way you want, with ease, but bottom line is this is good for Nintendo. And this app may be shit, but there are millions of people enjoying it. Get with the times, grannies. Putting on a pokecap 'cause it's sunny out there.

Frickin pokemon go has already made $16 billion in microransactions lol

As awful as it is this reminds me of Hillary trying to add Pokémon Go to the polls.

Jesus , .... I won't be surprised if the next super mario comes out as a mobile game

Im loving the game, i like having a quick game i can play on the go. Its something i enjoy about mobile, they make games that have high replayability and can be played real quick, pretty much exactly what Nintendo was trying to do with portables. Now that they have mobile, they can release a bunch of cool quick fun Apps.

Now if we could get Nintendo to make a series of Phones. Can have model for young people, then a couple models for older people. I would go crazy for a Nintendo phone. Id even pay $900.

Nintendo did the best thing they could have done in the mobile market. I'm curious to see how many 3DS handhelds they sell due to Pokemon GO. I'm sure that Sun/Moon will do much better because of GO also.

@funkmaster1233: Thats what im wanting to know. How many 2DSs along with Pokemon Sun/Moon will they sell. 2DS is only $79.99. Time to get that Pokemon Bundle, gonna be gone quick.

Thats gotta sting

A small little gaming company destroying a big AAA company like Sony. I can't tell if Sony looks like crap or if Nintendo is just godly.

No it hasn't. That $16 billion is from stock trading. It's more like $20-30 million.

@ProtossRushX said:

Thats gotta sting

A small little gaming company destroying a big AAA company like Sony. I can't tell if Sony looks like crap or if Nintendo is just godly.

They were more than double Sony's value in the Wii era.

Pokemon: It prints money. Literally.

PS: I have given it a go when it launched in Portugal about a week ago or so. It's alright, not really for me. It's mostly an excuse to just hang out it with your buddies really, which is nice btw.

All part of Iwata's plan. Looking forward to NX!

I actually saw on investing forums a lot of people piling into Nintendo. That seems awfully dangerous from a long term buy and hold perspective; do people truly believe Nintendo will have a huge upward trajectory with a successful long term business model, or are they piling in because of a potential fad developed by Niantic?

On the other hand, if you're in for a quick buck, I guess there's worse ways to do it. Pokemon Go still hasn't been released in Japan, so it should continue to stay strong for a long time. I still see a lot of questions surrounding Nintendo though and can't agree with the valuations until their core business starts growing again.

Nintendo is going for world domination.

I'll have to remember to buy Nintendo stock after the fall, as this seems to be a trend in their business. Impressive to see a multi-billion dollar company really profiting on fads so well.

I also want to reply

People want Nintendo to exit the Console market and put their games on Mobile.

This is no surprise.

Nintendo is going to have a great year, this and sun and Moon along with the mini nes, the mini is going to sell out day1.

It's the late 90s all over again.

Is the tracking not broken for you? Everything shows up as 3 footsteps away, never getting closer, and just suddenly appearing for me. Makes a large part of the game rather annoying.

@asylumni: Yeah, it no longer does the 1, 2 steps, everything is 3 steps. Not sure why they changed that though, its a weird change.

The funny thing is that Nintendo didn't make the game. :|

Beware of bubbles.

From what I've heard, the most likely explanation is that it's related to the server issues they've been having and the server isn't taking the time to more accurately calculate the proximity. Unfortunately, Niantic seems preoccupied with getting the app rolled out to the rest of the world and we may have to put up with it for a while.

Well if Nintendo was looking for THE time to unveil a console it would be now. The world's eyes are on them. If only they were releasing the NX this holiday season, then they could continue riding that wave. I anticipate this will all cool down in the Spring by the time the NX is released.

@asylumni: Yeah, hopefully they get a bunch fixed before the major update adds more. Them servers still crazy.

Don't care for Pokemon Go, .. Nintendo hit a jackpot with this one. :P

Has Nintendo ever developed a Pokemon game?

Nintendo on their way to being gen 9 console leader??

Meaning that you're finally coming back to Nintendo?

Omg i would kill for a nintendo flip phone like a ds. I would actually play phone games all the time at that point. As long as it fits in a pocket it would be a gold mine if they had their own online market with all the classics and new ds games.

exactly IMAGINE these 2 things combined together into 1 uber sexy slim nintendo product

@ProtossRushX said:

@vaidream45 said:

Omg i would kill for a nintendo flip phone like a ds. I would actually play phone games all the time at that point. As long as it fits in a pocket it would be a gold mine if they had their own online market with all the classics and new ds games.

exactly IMAGINE these 2 things combined together into 1 uber sexy slim nintendo product

Only if it's an AGS-101 model.

This is proof that Nintendo can literally print money whenever they feel like it.

I have to give them credit Nintendo is doing great. Keep on doing great. Now, make sure that the NX is a proper console. Let your money help you to keep on being great Nintendo.

Their stock value has begun to plummet. This article is no longer relevant.

The Nintendo stock has already plummeted down within 15 hours of this thread's creation.

The Bubble Bursts: Nintendo Stock Falls, Below Sony Again

LINK: Nintendo's stock below Sony again.

That's got to hurt the cows ego's on here.

Good news, its just sad that the game isn't a proper pokemon game...

I'm already bored of it. What is there to do? collect them? fantastic.... battling is crap.... so whats the point in investing any real effort?

Been playing Final Fantasy Brave Exvius a ton more... despite being a gatcha game, its actually a decent classic-FF like system.

Current market capitalization:

Nintendo - $40.631 billion

Sony - $38.784 billion

...This is for Sony as a whole, including its gaming, music, film and technology divisions. And yet Nintendo, an entirely gaming company, is financially destroying Sony (just like it did in the Wii era).

Nope, if anything, it strengthens it.

@SolidTy: LOL Sheep rekt.

20 years is a long time for a "fad" to last.