Troubled gadget-maker Sony (NYSE:SNE) is selling off its whole 13.14 percent stake in Japanese mobile gaming firm DeNA (TYO:2432). As Sony looks to cut costs, it should net the firm 40.9 billion yen – that’s US$438 million – once the transaction wraps up on March 7th.
The exact selling price will be revealed at close of trading on March 5th, which is tomorrow. DeNA is currently at 2,596 yen per share at the close of Monday’s trading.
Sony’s announcement today, as caught by TheNextWeb, explains that it “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.”
The Sony stake in DeNA, which amounts to 17,722,500 shares and 177,225 voting rights, will be bought by Nomura Securities.
Though $438 million is a useful chunk of cash for the struggling firm – which is now down to sales of under two million of each of its gaming gadgets in Japan – it’s not the biggest pile of money that Sony will be getting soon. That’s because Sony has also sold off one of its Tokyo office buildings for a cool $1.2 billion. Sony outlined a number of such cost-saving measures in its recent financial forecast.
Sony lost $5.7 billion in 2011. In 2012 Q1 it saw a less alarming $312 million evaporate, followed by $198 million vanishing into the ether in 2012 Q2.
DeNA, in contrast, is doing well as one of the world’s top social gaming platforms. It expanded aggressively in 2012 yet still managed $216 million in operating profit in 2012 Q3.
(Source: Sony (PDF))
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