Sony have just announced that Kazuo Hirai will be, from the 1st of April, the company’s new President and CEO. Sir Howard Stringer will become Chairman of the Board of Directors a couple of months later. This is all ahead of tomorrow’s earnings release, which some suspect won’t be entirely great news.
“Three years ago, I started to work with the Board on succession plans, and in February, 2009 we named a new generation of leaders to be my management team,” said Stringer. “Among them was Kaz Hirai, who had distinguished himself through his work in the PlayStation and networked entertainment businesses.”
“Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature. I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead.”
“As challenging as times are for Sony now,” said Kaz, “were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position. I am grateful to Sir Howard and to the Board for their confidence in me, and I look forward to working with everyone at Sony more closely than ever before to build a strong future for our customers, shareholders, partners and employees.”
“The path we must take is clear,” he continued, “to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses – primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains.”
“The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony’s diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways.”
Source: Sony.
seedaripper1973
Let’s hope he doesn’t turn into an Aprils fool eh? ;-)
shields_t
I would’ve posted the same comment had I not been beaten to it!
seedaripper1973
Early bird me *squawks*
Jakster123x
Sounds like he has the right idea. Every Sony device needs to be intimately connected with the other from now on.
bunimomike
Agreed. Sony also learnt the hard way about spreading themselves too thin and if they buckle down and concentrate on the core products and services, hopefully we’ll see a great future for the PS3/PS4 and, more importantly, connectivity out the wazoo!
Forrest_01
‘Intimately’ eh?
Not sure i want my PS3 doing the wild thing with my Vita!
Porcupine_I
CEEE-EEEEE-OOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
cc_star
I’m not sure where Sony go from here
Their TV business is hugely important but there is no money in that industry, at all.
PS3 lost Sony billions from the year before it was out to 4 or so years into its life
You could understand this if you picture the PS3 as a trojan horse designed to sell HDTVs then upgrade them to 3DTVs but this is completely pointless as there is no money in TV manufacturing.
Also this whole loss-making in the early years paid for by profits in the later years circle of console development is about to re-start as Sony start to get factories tooled up for the PS4.
Other electronics divisions are similarly in disarray
With regards to phones it will be difficult for Sony to make money out of phones themselves, I think the division has also lost loads and its slipped from 4th largest manufacturer to 9th
I suppose their salvation may come from… the only way is up
JBoo
Kaz is a GOD! ! ! ;)
MayContainEvil
I hope this works out positively for him, I certainly don’t envy him the job.