Nintendo Company, Limited (Japanese: 任天堂 or ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 ) is a multinational corporation founded on September 23, 1889(1) in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards.(2) In the mid-twentieth century, the company tried several small niche businesses, such as a love hotel and a taxi company.(3) Over the years, it became a video game company, growing into one of the most powerful in the industry. Aside from video games, Nintendo is also the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners, a Major League Baseball team in Seattle, Washington. Nintendo purchased a sizable portion of Gyration Inc, a company specializing in gyros and motion sensors, in 2001.