How Pokémon Go helped Nintendo’s stock price

July 22, 2016 | Last updated on July 22, 2016
2 min read

By now, you’ve likely heard the stories of Pokémon Go’s popularity, or seen crowds of people gathered in random locations, all holding their phones in search of the latest monster.

The game has been a boon for Nintendo, which created the app. In fact, Nintendo’s value has jumped to more than US$39 billion, and its share price has doubled since the game’s release, reports Bloomberg.

It was released in the U.S. on July 6, 2016. At that time, Nintendo’s stock was trading at about US$17. By the time the game was released in Canada on July 17, 2016, the stock price had jumped to about US$37. As of today, the stock is trading at about US$29.

The app has clearly helped the company’s financials. But at Nintendo’s AGM on June 29, 2016, president Tatsumi Kimishima had some concerns regarding Brexit — at that time, the vote on whether the U.K. would leave the EU was still out.

He said the “conceivable impact of the Brexit vote is that Nintendo has a base in the U.K. and sell goods from there. Tax systems, product safety standards and rules, information privacy, and all sorts of other agreements are established by the EU for all of Europe, and at this point in time nobody knows how those agreements would change […]. For now, what we need to do is closely watch developments and prepare appropriate measures.”

Now that we know the U.K. has decided to leave the EU, investors may want to pay even more attention to the company’s plans — while chasing the latest monsters.

And from Advisor.ca’s sister site, Benefits Canada, read: Pokémon Go: Is game a disruption or a wellness tool for employers?

Also read:

Will Microsoft save LinkedIn?

In shaky economy, retailers rely on tech to drive sales

How U.S. advisors use tech to drum up business