Sony Sells Its Madison Avenue Headquarters For $1.1 Billion

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After paying off debt, Sony aiming to obtain around $770 million from sale.

Sony has announced that it's selling its U.S. headquarters building located on Madison Avenue in New York City.

Selling it to a real estate consortium managed by The Chetrit Group, the sale price for the 37-story building is $1.1 billion.

"Given the opportunities and challenges in the current economic and real estate landscape, selling 550 Madison now is a timely and logical strategic move," said Sony Corporation of America President Nicole Seligman.

Sony, which is cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide, is also said to be looking for a buyer for its Tokyo building. The Japanese technology firm is reportedly seeking a price between $1 billion and $1.5 billion.

After paying back debt stemming from its Madison Avenue building, Sony aims to keep around $770 million from sale. "Sony is undertaking a range of initiatives to strengthen its financial foundation and business competitiveness and for future growth," the company added.

"At the same time, Sony is balancing cash inflows and outflows while working to improve its cash flow by carefully selecting investments, selling assets and strengthening control of working capital such as inventory. This sale is made as a part of such initiatives."

Although Sony is selling its Madison Avenue headquarters, several of its businesses including Sony Music Entertainment, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Sony Pictures Entertainment, among others will remain in the building for the next few years.

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13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • house70
    I wonder how much they spent (and keep spending) on their stupid DRM schemes, along with the cohort of lawyers to enforce them.
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    house70I wonder how much they spent (and keep spending) on their stupid DRM schemes, along with the cohort of lawyers to enforce them.
    Reality Distortion Field is present everywhere unfortunately.

    Though I suppose Sony's crimes (other than the rootkit incident back in 2001 and the PSN hack) is minor compared to EA's. Heck, EA's CEO stated that he wants a super micro-transaction in FPS games, charging 1 dollar or 10 cents for every magazine of bullets you use.
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    EDIT: And the CEO, based on his tone and facial expression, was not kidding. He really thought that gamers wouldn't mind being dollar and dime'd to death.
    Reply
  • house70
    ^ I don't buy EA games.
    Reply
  • greghome
    A Bad DayReality Distortion Field is present everywhere unfortunately.Though I suppose Sony's crimes (other than the rootkit incident back in 2001 and the PSN hack) is minor compared to EA's. Heck, EA's CEO stated that he wants a super micro-transaction in FPS games, charging 1 dollar or 10 cents for every magazine of bullets you use.A Bad DayEDIT: And the CEO, based on his tone and facial expression, was not kidding. He really thought that gamers wouldn't mind being dollar and dime'd to death.
    Well, it teaches gamers to be mindful and not be wasteful :sarcastic:
    Reply
  • DRosencraft
    Wonder what Sony intends to do with that cash. The obvious thing would be drop it into their pockets, or put it in R&D. But at this point, the PS4 is too far into development to think that it'd help R&D. Part of it at least is gonna have to go to leasing office space somewhere, especially if they're planning to sell their Japanese HQ too. BTW, Sony's CEO claims Sony will wait to announce the PS4 until after MSFT does... that's where they are right now.
    Reply
  • alidan
    sony needs to lose the sony premium price.
    the days when sony was the best at tech are gone... their consumer grade cameras cant focus for crap compared to other brands and even other cheaper cameras...
    their tvs, stacked next to cheaper brands, dont offer a compelling enough reason to warrent the 2X price difference.
    and sony hasn't had a main stream product outside of gaming sense the walk man because they sit on great ideas till its to damn late... they could have had the ipod, but they waited till apple filled the market with "we are the best, be all end all, and we make things just work" and on one could really compete with them in a main stream setting there... and arguable never did, as the mp3 player went away and made way for the smartphones.
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    drosencraftWonder what Sony intends to do with that cash. The obvious thing would be drop it into their pockets, or put it in R&D. But at this point, the PS4 is too far into development to think that it'd help R&D. Part of it at least is gonna have to go to leasing office space somewhere, especially if they're planning to sell their Japanese HQ too. BTW, Sony's CEO claims Sony will wait to announce the PS4 until after MSFT does... that's where they are right now.
    I suppose they're doing the same thing as Nokia is doing. Besides, it looks better on the balance sheet and gives them more breathing room.
    Reply
  • falchard
    Sony finally realized having a large building in New York and Tokyo is stupidly expensive. Most companies realized that decades ago.
    Reply
  • connacht
    Atlas is shrugging...
    Reply