Sony said Thursday it has sold one of its main buildings in Tokyo for
$1.2 billion as the embattled Japanese electronics giant offloads assets
to help repair its tattered balance sheet.
The news comes after the
company in January announced the sale of its US headquarters in
Manhattan for more than $1.0 billion while this month it also sold part
of its online medical services unit.
Sony said its had sold the
25-storey central Tokyo building, which houses its television unit, to
Nippon Building Fund and an unnamed Japanese institutional investor for
111 billion yen ($1.2 billion) and would earn it a profit of 41 billion
yen.
"Sony is transforming its business portfolio and reorganising
its assets in an effort to strengthen its corporate structure," the
company said in a statement. "This sale was conducted as a part of this
reorganisation."
Sony said it would remain in the central Tokyo building for five years under a leasing agreement.
Earlier
this month, the firm said it would book a $1.2 billion gain from
selling part of an online medical services unit, as it eyes a full-year
profit after four years in the red.
Sony has announced a massive
corporate overhaul that includes thousands of job cuts, the sale of a
chemical division and an investment in Olympus to tap the camera and
medical equipment maker's strong foothold in the global market for
endoscopes.
The maker of Bravia televisions and PlayStation games
consoles lost 456.66 billion yen in the last fiscal year, but says it is
on track for a 20 billion yen net profit in the year to March.
Last
week, Sony announced it would launch its PlayStation 4 system as it
faces increasing competition from cheap or sometimes free
downloadable video games for smartphones and tablets.
The
company's hard times saw its stock value tumble below 1,000 yen a share
last year, for the first time since the era of the Walkman.
The stock has since come back, with Sony shares up 3.56 percent at 1,338 yen on Thursday in Tokyo.
Japan's
electronics sector has suffered myriad problems including a strong yen,
slowing demand in key export markets, fierce competition especially in
the struggling TV division and strategic mistakes.
The industry
has been awash in huge losses and credit rating downgrades, with rival
Sharp saying last year it would put up real estate as collateral for
bank loans including its Osaka headquarters to stay afloat.