Wed, Feb 01, 2012 | 09:22 GMT
Kaz Hirai becomes president, CEO of Sony Corp – details
Kazuo Hirai will take over as president and CEO of Sony Corp from Sir Howard Stringer, the company’s announced this morning.
Stringer will remain in his current roles for now, as Hirai’s promotions won’t come into effect until April 1, 2012.
He’ll then become executive chairman until June, where he’ll become chairman of the board. Hirai’s new roles will be ratified at a shareholders meeting then.
Hirai, who’s been leading Sony Computer Entertainment in recent years as its president following the departure of PlayStation father Ken Kutaragi from the role in 2006, has been rumoured for the ascension for a while. The story intensified last month, but was debunked by Sony until today.
“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,” said Hirai.
“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.”
Howard will take over from Yotaro Kobayashi as board chairman due to Kobayashi’s upcoming retirement.
“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,” said Stringer.
“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. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success.”
Ahead of the today’s news, Hirai became chairman of SCE last September, handing the presidency to ex-SCEE president Andrew House.
12 comments
#1
Karooo
01/02/12, 8:34 am
The PR is available on Sony.net.
#2
mathare92
01/02/12, 8:48 am
That home page pic of him is frankly terrifying.
#3
Patrick Garratt
01/02/12, 8:51 am
@2 – Like he’s risen from the grave. Sorry, Kaz.
#4
JimFear-666
01/02/12, 9:28 am
i hope that he will still do the E3 press event. I love all the awkward kaz hirai moment
#5
Colin Gallacher
01/02/12, 10:27 am
Our little Kaz…he’s come so far!
Celebratory Riiiiidge Racer anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaBUeINW_3s&feature=player_detailpage#t=26s
#6
Erthazus
01/02/12, 10:31 am
Great. More products for ….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOHqG1nc_tw&feature=related
#7
Christopher Jack
01/02/12, 11:07 am
Well hopefully he can turn the company around, Sony as a whole has been making too many bad decisions for far too long.
#8
JimFear-666
01/02/12, 12:56 pm
who will replace him at playstation?
#9
Erthazus
01/02/12, 1:06 pm
@8, Me. Obviously.
#10
fearmonkey
01/02/12, 5:14 pm
I hope Kaz has enjoyed his humble Pie, and will leave the smack talk by the wayside in case the playstation brand gets on top again.
I couldn’t stand Kaz and Kutaragi’s competitive baloney before and after the PS3 launch, it was the main reason I didn’t buy a PS3 though I owned a PS2.
#11
LOLshock94
01/02/12, 5:53 pm
5000 dolllllllllllllllluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akx4fAWu_Xs
#12
Eager Snake
01/02/12, 8:36 pm
Well, the first problem with Ken and Kaz was the whole importance of each person inside the company.
I think that Ken was TOO agressive sometimes, but he IS the father of our Playstations. He needed some control, nothing more…
Now, Kaz has grown A LOT in the past years and has become a person with some solid knowledge about the industry and about the users, just like Jack Tretton.
I can see some good things to come to Sony Computer and Sony in general… at least is my opinion.