Last month, rumor had it that Sony was selling its Tokyo office. Now the Japanese electronics giant has confirmed that the Sony City Osaki building has been sold for 111.1 billion yen ($1.2 billion). The company also revealed that it has somehow struck a deal that will allow it to remain in the location for the next five years.
Sony, makers of the multi-platform gaming console PlayStation, said that the sale would give the company a profit of $1.19 billion. The 25-storey building serves as offices to 5,000 employees, mostly members of Sony’s TV and audio work force. According to the announcement, the property has been bought by real estate firm Nippon Building Fund and an undisclosed Japanese investor. The company, obviously having troubles financially, is in the midst of restructuring and streamlining its businesses. This sale of the office in Tokyo comes just one month after Sony sold its New York HQ for $1.1 billion. Last April, the company announced the cutting of 1,000 jobs and the relocation of its global HQ back to Tokyo.
Sony actually showed a little bit of progress when it posted $20.84 billion in revenue for its fiscal Q3 results earlier this month, but it still needs to turn things around successfully. Its strange “launching” of the PlayStation 4 where it failed to unveil the actual console had the media scratching their heads and does not bode well for the year. They are not the first ones to go this route though. Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia also sold its Oulu campus for $40.8 million earlier this month, having already let its Espoo headquarters change hands in a $223 million deal done in December.
[ via The Next Web ]