A few years back I read an enlightening article on Red Bull detailing how a series of brilliant steps turned a cough syrup soda into a world-leading energy drink. At the time, their factory employees generated $1 million apiece—a figure that almost makes sense when weighing the cost of mandatory personnel alone. Now Nintendo does one way better. All of their 3,000 employees will combine this year to produce a cumulative $1.6 million per head—after salaries.(Ironically, Nintendo's figure doesn't include factory employees since they outsource production.) Nintendo's earnings are better than the 2007 reports from Goldman Sachs ($1.24 million per head, pre salaries) and Google ($628,000 per head). And if anything, Nintendo claims their numbers are an underestimate since many of their employee salaries are written off as R&D. They'd also like you to pick up a Wii if you still have not. [FT via DevelopMag and image]

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