Sony will sell off its holdings in mobile game firm DeNA for about US$440 million, the latest in a string of deals that could boost its bid for a profitable year.
The Tokyo-based electronics firm said Monday it will sell its 13 percent share stake, or 17.7 million shares, it holds in the mobile game company to Japanese financial giant Nomura Securities. The profits from the deal will be booked as income for the current financial year, which runs through March.
The stock sale is yet another large deal for Sony that will be recorded as a profit on its balance sheets for the current period. Heading into the last month of its fiscal year, the company has also recently announced the sale of a large Tokyo office complex for $1.2 billion, the sale of its U.S. headquarters for $1.1 billion, and the sale of shares in a medical subsidiary for $150 million.
Sony aims for a modest profit of about $210 million this year. That would mark its first return to the black in five years, a key goal of new CEO Kazuo Hirai.
Hirai has pledged to return Sony to its glory days. He has said he is personally overseeing the development of key products, even as he leads a restructuring that includes 10,000 job cuts and closing factories.