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Sony chairman and former CEO Kaz Hirai is retiring
Chairman Kazuo Hirai, who guided Sony through some difficult times over the last five years, has announced his retirement from the company. "Kaz" was appointed CEO and president of Sony back in 2012, shortly after it lost $6.4 billion in 2011. After slashing costs and refocusing the business on gaming and imaging, he brought Sony back to profitability, with the company earning $6.7 billion in fiscal 2017. Hirai stepped down from his CEO role shortly afterwards, handing the reins to CFO Kenichiro Yoshida.
PlayStation keeps making money, Sony phones keep losing it
The most interesting part of cracking open a fresh financial report from Sony is seeing whether the momentum behind the PlayStation 4 shows any signs of slowing down. Sony kinda spoilt that for us just after the new year, though, announcing that the PS4 was closing in on the 100 million milestone with 91.6 million consoles sold as of December 31st. The holiday season was appropriately busy for the PlayStation division. From October through December, aka the third quarter of Sony's fiscal year, 8.1 million PS4s found loving homes, compared with 9 million the previous year. Not bad considering the slowdown in sales that's a natural part of a console's lifecycle has been prophesied for some time now.
PlayStation 4 sales are actually speeding up
Sony's nothing if not consistent. The company's latest financial results released today show everything's as it should be six months after new CEO Kenichiro Yoshida took the helm. Sony recorded nearly $19.6 billion in revenue for the three months ending September 30th, of which almost $2.2 billion was cold, hard profit. Those numbers are slightly better than last year's and last quarter's, meaning Sony's books aren't just stable, they're healthy. Predictably, the PlayStation division was responsible for the most revenue, pulling in more than double any other department barring financial services. Just as unsurprising is that mobile remains the only loss-making part of Sony's business.
Watch Sony's IFA 2018 event in under 7 minutes
The new Xperia XZ3 smartphone and WH-1000XM3 high-end noise cancelling headphones are undoubtedly the highlights of Sony's presence here at IFA this year. But company execs including new-look CEO Kenichiro Yoshida weren't going to let the bright lights of the press conference stage dim without plugging Sony's other wares, including its Master series 4K TVs and a new high-res music player. But why listen to us when you can hear it all straight from the horse's mouth? And in less than seven minutes, no less!
Sony can't stop making money from PlayStation
Sony's new CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has been at the company's helm for just a few short months now, but fortunately, former chief Kaz Hirai left him an already successful company to run. Yoshida has his own designs for Sony, with a three-year plan to focus primarily on the entertainment and imaging businesses. It's important not to take the favorable position the company is in for granted, though, so we imagine Yoshida is pleased with Sony's latest financial results released today. There's nothing too extraordinary about the numbers, but Sony did record $17.9 billion in revenue for the three months ending in June, from which it extracted nearly $1.8 billion in profit. And yes, no points for guessing PlayStation is responsible for the bulk of that.
Sony makes moves to dominate image sensors and music
Sony's turnaround was started by its former chief, Kaz Hirai, who insisted that the business kill off weaker businesses to focus on its strengths. His replacement, Kenichiro Yoshida, has unveiled his own, three-year plan to help continue the work that his predecessor began.
Sony CEO Kaz Hirai will step aside on April 1st
We're only a few hours away from Sony's latest quarterly earnings report, but Sony has announced that CEO Kaz Hirai will be replaced as of April 1st. While CFO Kenichiro Yoshida is named as his replacement, Hirai will become Chairman, just as Howard Stringer did when Hirai replaced him in 2012. Hirai will retire as CEO with Sony in a much better state than when he took over, after turning its businesses around under his One Sony strategy. Over the last few years, Sony has cut costs repeatedly, selling its Vaio PC operation, revamping the way it makes and sells TVs and refocusing its mobile business. One incident that marred Hirai's tenure as chief was the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures -- its leader Michael Lynton left about a year ago and the studio is leading in the box office so far for 2018 with Jumanji. When it reports earnings it will likely show huge profits based on the PS4 and the smartphone camera components it sells. Yoshida has proven himself as a key player in the turnaround since becoming CFO in 2013, prioritizing the PlayStation business that has been a visible sign of the company's resurgence. This change comes just after Hirai's successor at PlayStation, Andrew House, also departed the company late last year. Under Yoshida's leadership, Sony will announce a new plan for the future and new management structure on April 1st. In a statement, Hirai said "As the company approaches a crucial juncture, when we will embark on a new mid-range plan, I consider this to be the ideal time to pass the baton of leadership to new management, for the future of Sony and also for myself to embark on a new chapter in my life." According to Yoshida, "My first priority will be to finalize our next mid-range corporate plan starting in April, together with our immediate business plan for the fiscal year 2018, and then move ahead swiftly with implementation."
