Mazda Looking To Sell Baseball Team, Other Assets As Finances Worsen
The scuttlebutt on Mazda is that Japan’s favorite independent automaker is in the toilet, having to shed jobs in America and assets in Japan just to stay afloat. While Mazda may be strapped for cash, their less-than-liquid holdings, like a baseball team and $5 billion worth of land, don’t look so bad.
Mazda’s holdings include a 34 percent stake in the Hiroshima Carp baseball team, a struggling but well-loved team, hospitals and other social facilities worth $253 million and various land holdings worth $5 billion. Mazda was in good financial shape before the financial crisis, but in recent years, the company has weathered the dissolution of its relationship with Ford, and a rising yen that has had devastating consequences for a company that produces most of its vehicles in Japan.
While Mazda has announced plans to build a factory in Mexico and is well on its way with their SkyACTIV technology aimed at reducing fuel consumption, the company will have to enact some short term measures to help ease their financial burden – like selling a bunch of valuable assets that are held for no other reason than because of a tie with Mazda’s hometown.
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Mazda shouldn't have sunk so much money into rotary engine development over the decades; they should have given up about 15 years ago when everybody (but them) knew the rotary had no future. Maybe Mazda will do a "Ford" and mortgage everything to raise some cash.
Surprising (to me at least) that no one has hooked up with them since Ford left. They make some nice chassis. Or maybe there is a reason Ford left them that no one is talking about.
There are rumors that Fiat's Sergio Marchionne has his eye on Mazda as the Asian leg to complement European Fiat and North American Chrysler.
THE ISSUE is not about Mazda "learning how to" sell cars, they sell plenty. The FACT is because most of their cars come out of Japan they are not making ANY money, because of the strong YEN..Nothing else...As for all the other BS by posters..Mazda will come out of this once they have more leverage (profit) out of their new Mexico plant or the YEN takes a nose dive. BTW: Mazda ARE in the process of total model renewal.