Sony offloads its 13% share in games firm DeNA for $467 million [Updated]

Sony has continued to slim-line its operations after it announced the sale of its entire 13 percent stake in Japanese mobile gaming company DeNA to Nomura Securities for an estimated 40.9 billion yen, or approximately $440 million.

Update: One day later, as promised, Sony has confirmed that the exact price of the deal was 43.5 billion yen, around $467 million.

The move is the latest in a series of cost-cutting initiatives at the Japanese electronics giant, coming a week after the $1.2 billion sale of one of the company’s office buildings in Tokyo and a month after it offloaded some of its shares in medical information business M3.

“Sony is transforming its business portfolio and reorganizing its assets in an effort to strengthen its corporate structure. This sale is made as a part of that initiative,” an announcement read.

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The company says it will reveal the exact price that it is selling the 17,722,500 shares at tomorrow. The deal is expected to close on March 7 and the net gain will be filed in its Q4 earnings report, which is due March 31.

Tokyo-based DeNA is one of the world’s top mobile social games companies, boasting more than 40 million users in Japan and a sizable, but undisclosed, user base overseas. Its Japan-based business focuses on its Mobage, its iOS and Android mobile games network, and its partners include Yahoo Japan — the country’s top Web content firm.

Sony may be struggling financially, but DeNA — which employs more than 800 staff worldwide — is in considerably better health. Its most recent quarter of business included record revenue of $567 million, while operating profit jumped 54 percent year-on-year to $216 million.

Headline image via jamiemc / Flickr