Japanese advertising giant Dentsu Group Inc. is considering selling its 48-story headquarters building in Tokyo as many employees are working from home amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.

The advertising agency expects to sell its office building in Tokyo's Minato Ward for several hundred billion yen and has already found candidates for buying it, the sources said.

Dentsu has about 9,000 employees working at the headquarters building constructed in 2002, but only 20 percent of them are currently commuting to the office as part of efforts to curb virus infections, making large space on floors in the building unused, according to the sources.

Asked about the plan, a Dentsu official said, "It is true we are considering selling the building as a part of a comprehensive review of our business, but we have not made a decision at this moment."

The company also aims to reduce its assets and generate cash to ride out the pandemic-hit sales, according to the sources. The company also plans to downsize the headquarters office and keep it unmoved by renting some floors of the building from a new owner.

==Kyodo

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