Tokyo - Japan's Nintendo on Thursday flatly denied the possibility of its takeover by US software giant Microsoft, saying the leading game company was not up for grabs.
"Nintendo is not on sale, and there is no such talk at all," Nintendo public relations chief Yasuhiro Minagawa said, referring to a German magazine report that Microsoft was interested in buying the Japanese firm.
The Wirtschaftswoche magazine said Microsoft chairperson Bill Gates told the weekly on the sidelines of a conference with analysts in the United States that he would immediately make an offer if Nintendo's majority shareholder, billionaire Hiroshi Yamauchi, were ready to sell.
Minagawa said Microsoft had never approached Nintendo for a possible purchase of shares.