Microsoft to buy a piece of Nintendo (land)
by Ross Miller 
{ Jul 4th 2007 at 7:45PM }
A 28-acre plot of land owned by Nintendo of America has just been sold to Microsoft, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Both Redmond, Washington-based companies are located close to one another, actually separated by this land.The deal will reportedly be finalized in the middle of this month, according to NOA's VP of marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan. The financial details have not been disclosed, but the land had previously been appraised for $23 million.
According to Kaplan, there is no relation to the sale of the land and the recent decision to move its sales, advertising and marketing departments to New York. (NOA Headquarters is staying in Redmond.) Her comments echo what she said back in May when they confirmed the company was taking bids on the land. The employee shift has also sparked rumors that key players Kaplan, George Harrison and Beth Llewelyn were leaving the company. Those murmurings, rather unsurprisingly, were not addressed in the Seattle P-I report.
[Via Gamespot, thanks hvnlysoldr]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TwingTwang @ Jul 4th 2007 7:53PM
Did they also buy the huge Mario statue?
fischju @ Jul 4th 2007 8:06PM
Ah, I see. This is so Microsoft can spy on Nintendo's awesome game idea's easier (all they need is binoculars!)
Grey Fox @ Jul 4th 2007 8:07PM
This ought to be interesting for the Ninetendo fan boy comments.
hvnlysoldr @ Jul 4th 2007 8:09PM
Apparently MS wanted another parking spot.
E.J. @ Jul 4th 2007 8:17PM
They've probably moved a lot of their sales, marketing and advertising in NY to be closer to bigger/better ad agencies. Not to mention having a NOA office that opens with the market.
SYN @ Jul 4th 2007 8:37PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oByfruomMos
**runs**
JodyAnthony @ Jul 4th 2007 8:39PM
I thought they had talked about buying land around there before
Ikke2000 @ Jul 4th 2007 8:57PM
They'd better buy the whole company and can it 5 minutes later. The world would be a better place.
generaldane @ Jul 4th 2007 10:50PM
@Ikke2000
getting scared are we?
ssuk @ Jul 5th 2007 4:12AM
Zoom, another $23 million to add to the "Wii and DS prints money" fund. =P
Kelly @ Jul 5th 2007 6:46PM
Sorry to nitpick, but read the article more carefully. The deal hasn't gone through yet. Also, the land does not separate Microsoft and Nintendo.
Nintendo is bounded on the west by Digipen, and on the east and south by Microsoft already.
The best part, that the article doesn't mention, is that Nintendo bought that land back in the 80's from a church for (I think) $18000. It's now appraised at $23 million. Microsoft has been trying to buy that property for years, and Nintendo has just been sitting on it, watching the price go up. Now that they are selling, do you think they are going to let Microsoft get away with paying merely the appraised price? Would you?
What's also really awesome is how long Nintendo waited to sell the land. Microsoft just paid an obscene price for the SafeCo and Eddie Bauer buildings. Buildings MS would not have needed to buy if they'd had that land.
It's amazing to me how Nintendo kicks Microsoft's ass at everything!