We’ve heard about a few companies with dreams of purchasing Nintendo over the years (*cough* Microsoft *cough*), and it turns out that there was another big ol’ American conglomerate looking to snap it up back in the day, too (thanks, Gamespot).
That is according to the latest episode of the Grit Podcast, where host Joubin Mirzadegan was joined by former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and former EA CCO Bing Gordon to discuss the pair’s experiences in the games industry.
During a chat about Kotick’s relationship with Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger, he stated that Munger’s conglomerate had once considered picking up Nintendo — you know, because that’s the kind of off-the-cuff decision that a business as big as Berkshire Hathaway can make.
Kotick claims that this discussion came in the same meeting that Munger expressed an interest in buying Vivendi’s stake in Activision despite, as Kotick puts it, him having no interest in video games, considering the medium “a step removed from gambling”.
Interestingly, this section of the conversation appears to have been removed from all instances of the podcast (Spotify, Apple, YouTube etc.), with the edit now jumping to Mirzadegan’s follow-up question on Vivendi. Fortunately, the attached transcript in the former two instances still gives an insight into what was said, so here’s Kotick’s comment, according to the Apple Podcasts transcript:
He goes, “You know, I was looking at a couple other companies in your sector. I think if we bought yours, we should buy that company Nintendo too”. He said, “Have you guys looked at it?”
And we’re like, “Yeah, it was trading 13 billion with 7 billion in cash”. And so he goes, “You know, I don’t think anything’s gonna go really bad before I’m dead […] and then if it goes bad after I’m dead, they’ll just chalk it up to the folly of an 82 year old. So you don’t have to be so concerned about disappointing me.”
Of course, this was just a meeting, and none of the deals ever ended up coming to fruition — Activision bought the Vivendi shares and, unsurprisingly, Berkshire Hathaway never grabbed Nintendo — but it’s a crazy ‘what if’ scenario to consider.
If Berkshire Hathaway has never entered your sphere, this is the Warren Buffett-run conglomerate with shares in the likes of Apple, Amazon, Bank of America and more. It is one of the largest US corporations by total revenue and recently became the country’s first non-technology company to be valued at over $1 trillion. Imagine if Nintendo decisions had to go through that.
Munger passed away in 2023, the same year that Kotick stood down as CEO of Activision Blizzard following Microsoft’s acquisition. At the time, Kotick had been at the centre of numerous controversies and allegations which were denied by both Kotick and the company before settlements were reached prior to his departure.
As we said, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of big companies eyeing up Nintendo for a potential buyout. Microsoft reportedly left Nintendo “laughing their asses off” when they approached them with a buyout back in the day, and leaked internal emails from Xbox’s Phil Spencer back in 2023 revealed that the company was still considering an acquisition.
We've heard about a few companies with dreams of purchasing Nintendo over the years (*cough* Microsoft *cough*), and it turns out that there was another big ol' American conglomerate looking to snap it up back in the day, too (thanks, Gamespot).
That is according to the latest episode of the Grit Podcast, where host Joubin Mirzadegan was joined by former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and former EA CCO Bing Gordon to discuss the pair's experiences in the games industry.
During a chat about Kotick's relationship with Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger, he stated that Munger's conglomerate had once considered picking up Nintendo — you know, because that's the kind of off-the-cuff decision that a business as big as Berkshire Hathaway can make.
Kotick claims that this discussion came in the same meeting that Munger expressed an interest in buying Vivendi's stake in Activision despite, as Kotick puts it, him having no interest in video games, considering the medium "a step removed from gambling".
Interestingly, this section of the conversation appears to have been removed from all instances of the podcast (Spotify, Apple, YouTube etc.), with the edit now jumping to Mirzadegan's follow-up question on Vivendi. Fortunately, the attached transcript in the former two instances still gives an insight into what was said, so here's Kotick's comment, according to the Apple Podcasts transcript:
He goes, "You know, I was looking at a couple other companies in your sector. I think if we bought yours, we should buy that company Nintendo too". He said, "Have you guys looked at it?"
And we're like, "Yeah, it was trading 13 billion with 7 billion in cash". And so he goes, "You know, I don't think anything's gonna go really bad before I'm dead [...] and then if it goes bad after I'm dead, they'll just chalk it up to the folly of an 82 year old. So you don't have to be so concerned about disappointing me.”
Of course, this was just a meeting, and none of the deals ever ended up coming to fruition — Activision bought the Vivendi shares and, unsurprisingly, Berkshire Hathaway never grabbed Nintendo — but it's a crazy 'what if' scenario to consider.
If Berkshire Hathaway has never entered your sphere, this is the Warren Buffett-run conglomerate with shares in the likes of Apple, Amazon, Bank of America and more. It is one of the largest US corporations by total revenue and recently became the country's first non-technology company to be valued at over $1 trillion. Imagine if Nintendo decisions had to go through that.
Munger passed away in 2023, the same year that Kotick stood down as CEO of Activision Blizzard following Microsoft's acquisition. At the time, Kotick had been at the centre of numerous controversies and allegations which were denied by both Kotick and the company before settlements were reached prior to his departure.
As we said, this isn't the first time we've heard of big companies eyeing up Nintendo for a potential buyout. Microsoft reportedly left Nintendo "laughing their asses off" when they approached them with a buyout back in the day, and leaked internal emails from Xbox's Phil Spencer back in 2023 revealed that the company was still considering an acquisition.
