Takata Corp. will move its head office from a posh building in an upscale Tokyo district to a redeveloped area to cut costs, as the troubled air-bag maker fights to survive the biggest recall in the auto industry's history.
The company will move next week to an office tower built on reclaimed land near Tokyo Bay as part of efforts to "rationalize its operations," said Toyohiro Hishikawa, a Takata spokesman. In leaving a building in Roppongi with tenants including Coca-Cola Co., Yahoo Japan Corp. and a sushi restaurant with three Michelin stars, Takata will halve its rent and save about ¥50 million ($440,000) a year, Hishikawa said.
Takata has sold shareholdings in Japanese automakers including Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. to help fund recalls of millions of flawed air bags, which Jefferies Group LLC analyst Takaki Nakanishi has estimated may end up costing more than ¥1 trillion. The company also divested its Irvin Automotive Inc. interiors unit to closely held supplier Piston Group for ¥10 billion in September.
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