Sony Selling U.S. Headquarters

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

Sony Selling U.S. Headquarters

With a $1.1 billion price tag, Sony's American headquarters in New York City is in the process of being sold.

In an effort to "strengthen its financial foundation," Sony is selling its U.S. headquarters, located in New York City. The $1.1 billion sale is expected to result in net cash proceeds of $770 million "after repaying debt related to the building and other transaction costs." Sony Corporation America, Sony Music Entertainment, and other Sony businesses located in the building will remain there for up to three more years under a leaseback arrangement with the buyer, The Chetrit Group.

The sale of the 37-story building, located at 550 Madison Avenue, is part of a "range of initiatives" Sony is taking in order to improve cash flow. To do this, the company is "carefully selecting investments, selling assets and strengthening control of working capital such as inventory."

The sale is expected to be completed on March 15, and with the fiscal year ending on March 31, the operating-income gain of $685 million is sure to have an effect on Sony's projected earnings. Sony is currently reevaluating its financial forecast for the fiscal year to take it into account.

Source: Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/18/3890030/sony-selling-american-headquarters]

Image: Jackie Craven [http://architecture.about.com/bio/Jackie-Craven-3819.htm]

Permalink

 

[felixader]

Oh weh, that sounds kinda bad.

My Gamer-I is more or less been raised by Nintendo, nonetheless i always had a friend who owned a PS of sorts.
That is why i left Fanboyism behind me pretty quick seeing how there were many great games on the Playstations that i were and am still really interested in.
I really hope Sony pulls their heads out of their asses for the release of the PS4 and don't repeat mistakes of the PS3 launch... wich they repeated during the PSP and VITA Launch.

Uh oh.

 

[The White Hunter]

Oh weh, that sounds kinda bad.

My Gamer-I is more or less been raised by Nintendo, nonetheless i always had a friend who owned a PS of sorts.
That is why i left Fanboyism behind me pretty quick seeing how there were many great games on the Playstations that i were and am still really interested in.
I really hope Sony pulls their heads out of their asses for the release of the PS4 and don't repeat mistakes of the PS3 launch... wich they repeated during the PSP and VITA Launch.

Uh oh.

I really do as well, the last thing we want is Microsoft having the market for consoles all to itself. Nintendo kind of has it's own market these days to be fair, can't wait to snag me a Wii U!

 

[GonzoGamer]

That is some prime real estate that they never did anything good with.
They had a decent storefront on the ground floor that they just sold sony stuff out of; no promotions or anything. They're like a couple of blocks away from Rockefeller Center.

The question that faces the many businesses fleeing Manhattan (and there have been many big & small) is: will we move to LIC, Brooklyn, or Jersey.

As a PS3 owner, I grown to kind of hate Sony, but you have to understand that even businesses that are doing well leave Manhattan. The real estate market across NYC has been gouged to such absurd costs, the only businesses that stay are the ones that have to.

 

[Quiotu]

Oh weh, that sounds kinda bad.

My Gamer-I is more or less been raised by Nintendo, nonetheless i always had a friend who owned a PS of sorts.
That is why i left Fanboyism behind me pretty quick seeing how there were many great games on the Playstations that i were and am still really interested in.
I really hope Sony pulls their heads out of their asses for the release of the PS4 and don't repeat mistakes of the PS3 launch... wich they repeated during the PSP and VITA Launch.

Uh oh.

If you looked at Sony's profits during the last few years... it's been their hardware that's taken a serious hit. Their media division and Playstation division have been doing rather well. Sony is one of Japan's 'too big to fail' corporations, so at the very worst you could see Sony selling the Playstation division to someone. But don't count on that, as it's one of the rare parts of their corporation that's profitable right now.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Oh weh, that sounds kinda bad.

My Gamer-I is more or less been raised by Nintendo, nonetheless i always had a friend who owned a PS of sorts.
That is why i left Fanboyism behind me pretty quick seeing how there were many great games on the Playstations that i were and am still really interested in.
I really hope Sony pulls their heads out of their asses for the release of the PS4 and don't repeat mistakes of the PS3 launch... wich they repeated during the PSP and VITA Launch.

Uh oh.

I really do as well, the last thing we want is Microsoft having the market for consoles all to itself. Nintendo kind of has it's own market these days to be fair, can't wait to snag me a Wii U!

I can't see MS holding the entire market of consoles as long as the charge people for online. That and they've only ever made a profit off of the 360 as the original Xbox put them billions into a hole. If Sony is selling their HQ, I'd expect to see MS doing something similar in the coming weeks. I mean, we haven't heard anything about the Xbox in a while now..

 

[Riku'sTwilight]

Oh weh, that sounds kinda bad.

My Gamer-I is more or less been raised by Nintendo, nonetheless i always had a friend who owned a PS of sorts.
That is why i left Fanboyism behind me pretty quick seeing how there were many great games on the Playstations that i were and am still really interested in.
I really hope Sony pulls their heads out of their asses for the release of the PS4 and don't repeat mistakes of the PS3 launch... wich they repeated during the PSP and VITA Launch.

Uh oh.

I really do as well, the last thing we want is Microsoft having the market for consoles all to itself. Nintendo kind of has it's own market these days to be fair, can't wait to snag me a Wii U!

I can't see MS holding the entire market of consoles as long as the charge people for online. That and they've only ever made a profit off of the 360 as the original Xbox put them billions into a hole. If Sony is selling their HQ, I'd expect to see MS doing something similar in the coming weeks. I mean, we haven't heard anything about the Xbox in a while now..

Microsoft's HQ is in Redmond. While they may too have a building in NYC, it probably isn't as much of a big loss to them as it's just a building, whereas this is Sony's US HQ.


As for Microsoft holding the market of consoles - if there wasn't any direct competition around, then it would either be you get an Xbox, get a Wii U or go elsewhere, and if developers weren't preparing games for the Wii U then there would only be one option

 

[The White Hunter]

Oh weh, that sounds kinda bad.

My Gamer-I is more or less been raised by Nintendo, nonetheless i always had a friend who owned a PS of sorts.
That is why i left Fanboyism behind me pretty quick seeing how there were many great games on the Playstations that i were and am still really interested in.
I really hope Sony pulls their heads out of their asses for the release of the PS4 and don't repeat mistakes of the PS3 launch... wich they repeated during the PSP and VITA Launch.

Uh oh.

I really do as well, the last thing we want is Microsoft having the market for consoles all to itself. Nintendo kind of has it's own market these days to be fair, can't wait to snag me a Wii U!

I can't see MS holding the entire market of consoles as long as the charge people for online. That and they've only ever made a profit off of the 360 as the original Xbox put them billions into a hole. If Sony is selling their HQ, I'd expect to see MS doing something similar in the coming weeks. I mean, we haven't heard anything about the Xbox in a while now..

Have Microsoft really made much off the 360 though? I suppose a lot of people have bought 4 or 5 of the damn things. Unless they improve their build quality and make xbox live free (then maybe they can justify those ads) then i don't see them really dominating, I'm worried about the next MS and Sony consoles though.

 

[RaeAlethea]

Not going to lie, I saw the headline and thought that Sony was leaving Southern California, and freaked out a little since I have friends that work there in both movies and games. But if its just New York....

 

[Wesley Brannock]

See this is what happens when you REMOVE backwards compatibility along with other features that people PAID for. If sony doesn't change it's attitude about what a customer wants they'll lose even more customers. I fear if they " stay the course " they'll end up with a REAL news report that looks just like this FAKE one.


Now bear in mind I love the Playstation 1 , 2 , and 3. I will however admit that with the Playstation 3 Sony wronged the customers by removing features they paid for. Some of those features were the reason some of the first Playstation 3's were sold. So I can understand the anger at sony those are completely legitimate reasons to be mad at the company I'm not arguing that. All I'm saying is that Sony needs to shape up or ship out. The RUMORS that the Playstation 4 won't have backwards compatibility , and locks used video games does not inspire enthusiasm but instead makes me feel like the console era is more like the tale of Icarus constructing wax wings for a goal of freedom. Only to ignore words of warning not to fly to close to the sun and have the wax wings melt. What I'm saying is that Sony should heed this warning that is " SONY Listen to your customers or you won't survive as a company ".

 

[CortexReaver]

Is Sony going Nokia? Nokia sold their HQ recently, too, and we all know how bad things are going for Nokia now.

 

[LordMonty]

Well its complex stuff that is complex money and gibber. Hopefully they get back on there feet but seriously after the Kevin Butler fiasco thy need to work on good PR and making a winning console to take on the next gerneation war in gaming.

 

[Sylveria]

And then Sony will say "look we're in the black, we're a good investment," then next year they'll be taking a huge loss again because no one wants to buy their $25,000 4K TVs.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Oh weh, that sounds kinda bad.

My Gamer-I is more or less been raised by Nintendo, nonetheless i always had a friend who owned a PS of sorts.
That is why i left Fanboyism behind me pretty quick seeing how there were many great games on the Playstations that i were and am still really interested in.
I really hope Sony pulls their heads out of their asses for the release of the PS4 and don't repeat mistakes of the PS3 launch... wich they repeated during the PSP and VITA Launch.

Uh oh.

I really do as well, the last thing we want is Microsoft having the market for consoles all to itself. Nintendo kind of has it's own market these days to be fair, can't wait to snag me a Wii U!

I can't see MS holding the entire market of consoles as long as the charge people for online. That and they've only ever made a profit off of the 360 as the original Xbox put them billions into a hole. If Sony is selling their HQ, I'd expect to see MS doing something similar in the coming weeks. I mean, we haven't heard anything about the Xbox in a while now..

Microsoft's HQ is in Redmond. While they may too have a building in NYC, it probably isn't as much of a big loss to them as it's just a building, whereas this is Sony's US HQ.


As for Microsoft holding the market of consoles - if there wasn't any direct competition around, then it would either be you get an Xbox, get a Wii U or go elsewhere, and if developers weren't preparing games for the Wii U then there would only be one option

I think a lot of people would give up making console games and go PC. JRPGs are by large way more successful on Playstation consoles than Microsoft consoles (and recent Nintendo consoles to be honest). Also, more niche Japanese games like Demon's Souls, Shadow of the Colossus and Sega's Yakuza series find much greater chance of being successful on Playstation consoles as well.

If it were a console race of just MS and Nintendo I'd bet that a lot of those kinds of games would find their way to the PC before landing on what's considered to be "the North American console that caters to online multiplayer", and "the console that has an interesting dynamic but bad history with 3rd party support and even worse history with localization(Mother 3, Operatiion Rainfall needing to happen."

My point is, a two console competition would be the worst outcome for gaming no matter how you slice it.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

When companies are in trouble, they sell off IPs. When they are circling the drain, they sell off real estate.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

... And this is why I think the PS4 is gonna be as "Weak" as the WiiU. Sony is in such a dire straight (And this clearly shows that) that they need to use weaker technology (Like they did with the PS1 and PS2). Another "Five Hundred and Ninety Nine Dollar" Console will kill them!

If it were a console race of just MS and Nintendo I'd bet that a lot of those kinds of games would find their way to the PC before landing on what's considered to be "the North American console that caters to online multiplayer", and "the console that has an interesting dynamic but bad history with 3rd party support and even worse history with localization(Mother 3, Operatiion Rainfall needing to happen."

My point is, a two console competition would be the worst outcome for gaming no matter how you slice it.

To be completely Honest, I think a Nintendo vs. Microsoft only Console War would be a repeat of Nintendo vs. Sega: They fight neck and neck and Nintendo barely comes out on top.

 

[Gennadios]

... And this is why I think the PS4 is gonna be as "Weak" as the WiiU. Sony is in such a dire straight (And this clearly shows that) that they need to use weaker technology (Like they did with the PS1 and PS2). Another "Five Hundred and Ninety Nine Dollar" Console will kill them!

It's not just about technology, Sony seems to be taking it slowly in terms of feature advancements. They wait for Microsoft to set the standard on the kind of online/friends/list features they want on a console and follow through. They're also frustratingly set on using proprietary data storage systems, which may have worked in the 90's, but now it's too much of a pain in the ass to look past.

I'm kind of neutral on this. Either their financial difficulties will light a fire under their ass and they'll actually INNOVATE to compete, or they'll just get progressively more irrelevant and collapse, which is what Capitalism is about!

Really wish I knew they were selling the headquarters ahead of time though, I would have totally put $1.2 billion down, the place is sweet.

 

[The Nossa]

[This post has been deleted]