Corporate Management Policy Briefing/Semi-Annual Financial Results Briefing Q & A Session

Corporate Management Policy Briefing/Semi-Annual Financial Results Briefing for Fiscal Year Ended March 2009

- Oct. 31, 2008

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21	What are your current production capabilities of DS and Wii? Also, why is Nintendo publicly listed. I find no merit to that, but rather more demerits. As turbulence in the stock market continues, when at time your cash deposits accounted for more than half of the aggregate market value of your stock, what do you think about the possibility of new capital policy, including share buy-back to protect the company?
21	Iwata: Let me express my view on the reason of being listed first. Frankly, I am sometimes asked why we don't do an MBO, but I have no plans for that. I can't say that it doesn't bother me at times that I can't pour all my energy into just developing and globally marketing a product due to external factors. Of course as a human being, I am not happy to be bothered by any external factor that cannot be controlled by our own efforts. On the other hand, we were brought up by our shareholders when we had no capital who bought our future at a lower value than today when we decided to go public. I am not interested in such policy to become private again just because we no longer need capital and being public is no longer convenient for us. But on the other hand, with our abundant cash, we have plenty of choices for capital policies that include buying our own stocks, and we are not excluding any possibility, as we always strive to do what's best at the moment. But what I can assure you is that we have no plan to borrow money to do a MBO at all; this is contrary to my values. Monthly production capacity has not largely changed from what I have previously shared: 2.5 million units for DS and 2.4 million for Wii. Temporary increase is not impossible by asking to reserve parts for periods when we really need a little extra like in November, but we don't have the infrastructure to normally do so. And we have prepared a separate production for DSi. But I think it is too early to comment on its production capacity as it is increasing everyday. But I assure you the amount of DS Lite shipments available for the overseas' year-end sales season will not be decreased due to the production of DSi.

What are your current production capabilities of DS and Wii?
Also, why is Nintendo publicly listed. I find no merit to that, but rather more demerits. As turbulence in the stock market continues, when at time your cash deposits accounted for more than half of the aggregate market value of your stock, what do you think about the possibility of new capital policy, including share buy-back to protect the company?

Iwata:

Let me express my view on the reason of being listed first. Frankly, I am sometimes asked why we don't do an MBO, but I have no plans for that.

I can't say that it doesn't bother me at times that I can't pour all my energy into just developing and globally marketing a product due to external factors. Of course as a human being, I am not happy to be bothered by any external factor that cannot be controlled by our own efforts. On the other hand, we were brought up by our shareholders when we had no capital who bought our future at a lower value than today when we decided to go public. I am not interested in such policy to become private again just because we no longer need capital and being public is no longer convenient for us.

But on the other hand, with our abundant cash, we have plenty of choices for capital policies that include buying our own stocks, and we are not excluding any possibility, as we always strive to do what's best at the moment. But what I can assure you is that we have no plan to borrow money to do a MBO at all; this is contrary to my values.

Monthly production capacity has not largely changed from what I have previously shared: 2.5 million units for DS and 2.4 million for Wii. Temporary increase is not impossible by asking to reserve parts for periods when we really need a little extra like in November, but we don't have the infrastructure to normally do so. And we have prepared a separate production for DSi. But I think it is too early to comment on its production capacity as it is increasing everyday. But I assure you the amount of DS Lite shipments available for the overseas' year-end sales season will not be decreased due to the production of DSi.

Presentation | Q & A

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