Nintendo plans US$1.2b share buyback

Tokyo

NINTENDO will spend as much as US$1.2 billion buying back shares after shoppers during the Christmas season shunned its Wii U console and games featuring Mario and Zelda.

The world's largest maker of video-game machines will buy back as many as 10 million shares, or about 7.8 per cent of outstanding shares, the Kyoto-based company said on Wednesday. Nintendo had about US$8.6 billion of cash and equivalents and zero debt as at Sept 30.