Nintendo Reportedly in Negotiations to Buy Sega

Nintendo, the Japanese video game systems company that popularized arcade-style games at home, is in talks to buy Sega, the beleaguered video game maker that revolutionized the industry in the early 1990s with its fanciful characters and eye-popping virtual worlds, the New York Times reported in today’s edition. The two companies are holding discussions that could lead to Kyoto-based Nintendo acquiring Sega for about $2 billion, though the terms of the transaction are still being negotiated, the paper reported, citing executives close to the talks. The talks have been going on sporadically for months, the executives said, and the deal could still collapse. A spokesman for Tokyo-based Sega strongly denied a deal was in the works. Sega’s chairman, Isao Okawa, has been trying to sell the company for some time, the executives said.