Nintendo's founding family to sell shares as buyback terms are set

Nintendo's founding Yamauchi family will sell its holdings in the games company as it prepares for the 114.2 billion yen share buyback terms taking place tomorrow, Bloomberg reports.

Nintendo will purchase up to 9.5 million shares, making up 7.4 percent of its available stock, at a price point of 12,025 yen each. According to a statement from the company, heirs to the former CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi who own roughly 10 percent of total shares "desire to sell." However, it remains unclear how many shares the family plans to sell.

Last month, Nintendo's Satoru Iwata announced plans to slash his pay in half following a 30 percent slump in profit in the wake of the company's third quarter results. Speaking to reporters, the Nintendo president said he will receive a reduced salary for five months while other Nintendo executives will take a pay cut between 20 and 30 percent.

The company expected to return to profit before revealing its third consecutive annual operating loss in early January. Its financial results revealed an operating loss of just over $15 million following dismal sales of the Wii U.

As of Sept. 30, 2013, Nintendo confirmed it had roughly $8.6 billion in cash and equivalents and no debt.

Nintendo was formed in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi. The company continued to run under the direction of a president from the Yamauchi family until 2002 when Hiroshi Yamauchi stepped down and was succeeded by current head Satoru Iwata. Iwata is the first Nintendo president unrelated to the Yamauchi family through blood or marriage.