Sony sells Tokyo office building for $1.2 billion, but will remain there for the next 5 years

Sony was rumored to have put its office in Tokyo, Japan, up for sale last month and now the company has confirmed that the building — Sony City Osaki — has been sold for 111.1 billion yen ($1.2 billion) as part of ongoing restructuring. However, the financially troubled company has struck a deal that will allow it to remain there for the next five years.

The PlayStation-maker says that — accounting for costs deducted from the sale — it will pocket $1.19 billion, and of that it expects to realize a gain of around 41 billion yen ($440 million) for the sale, which will be recorded in its Q4 financials due March 31. The 25-storey building — which houses 5,000 employees, most of whom work on its TV and audio business — has been bought by real estate firm Nippon Building Fund and an undisclosed Japanese institutional investor.

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

The company, which left media and pundits confused when it held the launch event for its upcoming PlayStation 4 console without actually unveiling the device, is in the midst of restructuring and the deal for the office in Tokyo comes just one month after Sony sold its office in New York 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, while it revealed plans to consolidate its presence in Japan in October 2012.

Sony showed some progress when it posted $20.84 billion in revenue but a $115 million net loss for its fiscal Q3 results earlier this month, but it is still to turn things around successfully.

Nokia has also taken the route of selling and releasing its buildings. The Finnish company sold its Oulu campus for $40.8 million earlier this month, having already let its Espoo headquarters change hands in a €170 million deal done in December.

Headline image via YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/Getty Images