Company owns more than 50 percent of team

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TOKYO -- Nintendo Co., the Japanese maker of Pokemon and Super Mario video games, raised its stake in baseball's Seattle Mariners to more than 50 percent, a company spokesman said Friday.

Nintendo's U.S. subsidiary spent $67 million to acquire the stake held by former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who acquired his share of the club in 1992, Yasuhiro Minagawa said.

Nintendo's U.S. subsidiary had owned a stake in the team but is not disclosing how much it owned or how much it owns after the transaction, he said.

The Mariners are one of the most popular major-league baseball teams in Japan because of outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.

Yamauchi sold his stake to make sure a single owner will keep the club in Seattle, Minagawa said.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press

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