Former Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi, who led the $125 million buyout of the team in 1992, sold his privately held shares for $67 million to the U.S. subsidiary of Nintendo in August, boosting Nintendo's ownership to more than 50 percent, the officials said.

"We agreed to the deal for advertising purposes," the officials said.

Yamauchi, an adviser to Kyoto-based Nintendo, was the Mariners' principal owner until he proposed his company buy his shareholdings to avoid dispersion in the future.

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 4, 2004
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