Nintendo Company Ltd. (任天堂株式会社, Nintend? Kabushiki gaisha) is a multinational corporation headquartered in Kyoto, Japan founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. In the mid-twentieth century, the company tried several small niche businesses, such as a love hotel and a taxi company. Over time, it became a video game company, growing into one of the most powerful in the industry and Japan’s third most valuable listed company with a market value of more than US$85 billion. In 2007 Nintendo ranked 10th on the list of largest software companies in the world. Aside from video games, Nintendo is also the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners, a Major League Baseball team in Seattle, Washington. According to Nintendo's Touch! Generations website, the name "Nintendo" translated from Japanese to English means "Leave luck to Heaven". As of October 2, 2008, Nintendo has sold over 470 million hardware units and over 2.7 billion video games.   Wikipedia