SEGA would never sell off their biggest IP. It was just a publicity stunt, I bet. To my knowledge, they’ve never sold an IP before.
SEGA did end up losing the ENDLESS franchise because the studio behind it went independent, but that studio owned the IP and SEGA just happened to publish that game. They also lost Bayonetta, but that’s because Platinum moved over to Nintendo for publishing.
Even then, do you think SEGA would sell an IP that they have an entire studio dedicated to and named after?