Nintendo Shares BuyBack: Yamauchi Family To Sell Their Shares?

Nintendo has stated that it is prepared to purchase as many as 9.5 million shares  - at 12,025 yen apiece - in an extraordinary buyback deal amounting to around $1.1 billion US Dollars (approximately £649,525,000).

The deal has been offered in an effort to calm worried Nintendo shareholders after the company's third dismal financial forecast in three years, revealed heavy losses of around £205 millon.

According to an article on the Bloomberg website, among the shareholders now wishing to sell their shares back to Nintendo, is the family of Hiroshi Yamauchi - the former CEO and President of the company, who is largely credited with turning the Nintendo brand into the successful video gaming powerhouse it is known as today.

Hiroshi Yamauchi worked at Nintendo for 53 years

Hiroshi Yamauchi had around ten percent of shares in Nintendo at the time of his death on the 19th September 2013. These shares were subsequently divided between his four children after he died.

It is still unclear whether the family wish to sell all of their entire percentage of shares back to Nintendo, or just a portion of them. Nevertheless, with Nintendo share prices having steadily fallen by almost eighty percent since 2007, the buyback scheme could not have come at a more appropriate time.

Sotaru Iwata CEO and President of Nintendo

Other special measures have been implemented by Nintendo since learning about their current losses,  including a fifty percent cut in pay for the current CEO, Sotaru Iwata, and another thirty percent pay-cut for the two board directors, who include Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the hugely successful Mario series of games.

Shigeru Miyamoto faces a 30% pay reduction

Other board members will all face pay-cuts of up to twenty percent. It is not known how long these pay-cuts will remain in effect. Nevertheless, Iwata's pay is likely to remain halved for the next five months at least, in recognition of the company's recent losses.

Nintendo do seem to be making a sincere effort to recover from their recent loss but it will only become apparent in next year's financial report whether or not any of these special measures have helped to yield future profit for the company. Only time will tell...