Short answers, pulled from the story.
Pokémon was created by Satoshi Tajiri, who was born on the 28th of August 1965 and grew up catching insects near his hometown of Machida, a suburb of Tokyo. The core concept combined his childhood memories of collecting small creatures with the Nintendo Game Boy's link cable, which allowed players to transfer items between cartridges, effectively enabling a virtual version of trading and collecting.
Pokémon Red and Green were released on the Game Boy on the 27th of February 1996 in Japan. Development had begun in 1990 following a pitch to Nintendo, but the project was suspended for several years before Tajiri committed to finishing it in the summer of 1994.
The 38th episode of the anime, "Dennō Senshi Porygon", aired on the 16th of December 1997 and was watched by approximately 4.6 million households. A sequence of rapidly alternating red and blue flashes triggered adverse health effects in more than 10,000 viewers, including headaches, nausea, and in some cases photosensitive epileptic seizures, leading to an immediate broadcast halt and new industry guidelines.
Pokémon Go grossed more than $600 million in worldwide revenue within 90 days of its release in 2016, making it the fastest mobile game ever to reach that milestone. By the 2nd of September 2016, Sensor Tower reported it had already surpassed $440 million.
The Pokémon franchise is jointly owned by three companies: Nintendo, the publisher; Game Freak, the primary video game developer; and Creatures, Inc., the company founded by producer Tsunekazu Ishihara on the 8th of November 1995. The Pokémon Company, established in 2000, was created to centralize global management of the property. Since 2009, The Pokémon Company International has managed the franchise outside Asia.
According to The Pokémon Company, over 75 billion Pokémon trading cards have been printed. The trading card game was first released in Japan on the 20th of October 1996 and was influenced by Magic: The Gathering.