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In an intriguing case of “what if…?,” it was revealed by Bobby Kotick on the Grit podcast that at one point in the not-so-distant past, Berkshire Hathaway had pondered acquiring Nintendo. The former Activision Blizzard CEO was asked about his relationship with Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman Charlie Munger, and during the exchange said the following:
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.”
What makes this whole thing arguably even more interesting is that this portion of the conversation, according to the fine folks at Nintendo Life, seems to have been scrubbed from the podcast on various platforms. Why would that be? It’s hard to say, but perhaps the multinational conglomerate didn’t like its internal musings broadcast to the world. Whatever the reason, we know that Berkshire Hathaway obviously never did pull the trigger on trying to buy Nintendo, but one does wonder what a different world it would be if that had happened. Would Nintendo even still be making hardware if such an acquisition happened, for instance, or would Nintendo be a third-party software maker like SEGA?
Why not share your guesses down in the comments and on social media!
Source: Nintendo Life
