Japan's major newspapers, including the Yomiuri Nihon Keizai Shimbun (the so-called Nikkei, the largest business paper) and the Kyodo press wire were all allocated choice downtown real estate for their headquarters by the Japanese government in the 1960s at bargain prices.

FORBES: Hold the presses

Last week, it was reported that entertainment powerhouse Sony is looking to lease out real estate in its New York headquarters -- this after its Sony Music Entertainment arm dissolved longtime record labels (Jive, Arista) into one (RCA) for cost cutting measures.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

This is the baronial headquarters of the aptly named Majestic Realty, a real estate developer owned by two-year Forbes 400 member Edward Roski Jr. that lords over a 38 million-square-foot empire in nine states.

FORBES: City of Greed

The firm's headquarters in lower Manhattan were dumped in the middle of a real-estate panic.

ECONOMIST: Prudential buys AIA: Grand Pru | The