Howard-Stringer
Latest
Sony's Stringer to retire in June
Sir Howard Stringer announced that he will retire from his position as Sony's chairman in June. Stringer told a Japan Society lecture Friday that the move would allow him to pursue "new opportunities I've been presented with lately," according to the Financial Times.Stringer stepped down from his role as Sony's president and CEO in February 2012, when he was replaced by Kaz Hirai, before he became the company's chairman of the board of directors in June 2012.
Kaz Hirai drops some titles at Sony, still president
One morning, Sony president and CEO Kaz Hirai woke up and said, "I probably have too many titles." Beyond being the president and CEO of Sony Corporation (the umbrella parent company of PlayStation, Bravia, and many other Sony brands), Hirai is also "representative director" and "chairman" – until today, that is. Hirai is relinquishing his responsibilities and titles for both his positions as representative director and chairman of Sony Corp.Hirai is dropping both titles and responsibility in today's move, only remaining on Sony's board in a "part-time capacity." He became president and CEO earlier this year, taking over former CEO Howard Stringer's spot in early February. Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House is taking over the vacated chairman position, effective this month, and former Sony Corp. head Howard Stringer is also exiting his board seat.In case the bizarre-looking hierarchy isn't clear enough, this means that Andrew House – the guy who runs the PlayStation brand – is the head of Sony Corp.'s board, followed by eight Japan-based Sony Corp. employees. One of those is his boss, Kaz Hirai. Yup.
Sony's Q3 earnings are in: wider than expected full year loss, lowered sales projections
Sony already revealed Kazuo Hirai will take over for Howard Stringer as CEO and President April 1st last night, and with the big shocker out of the way it's time for the fiscal Q3 reports. After posting a net loss of $346 million last quarter, Sony is now expecting a bigger loss for 2011 than it had previously estimated, as well as lower sales. It's currently showing a net loss for the quarter of 159 billion yen ($2~ billion), or a $1.2 billion operating loss. Blame is put on a larger than expected effect from the flooding in Thailand, strong yen and weakness in cellphones. Sales for the quarter were about $23 billion, down 17.4 percent from the same quarter last year. The consumer products and services division (HDTVs, PS3s, etc.) in particular caught a brick, with an operating loss of over a billion dollars on sales that dropped 24 percent from last year. It recorded a loss on its sale of shares in the S-LCD venture with Samsung, LCD TVs sold for prices lower than its cost reductions, and the PlayStation 3 had the killer combo of higher marketing costs and lower unit sales. Check the PDF and slides linked below for more bad news. We'll let you know what we hear on the earnings call in a few, but until then, Kaz, may we suggest bringing in Jimmy Rollins for tips on breaking out of a slump?
Sony confirms Kazuo Hirai as new President and CEO, replacing Howard Stringer
Sony has just confirmed Kazuo Hirai as its new CEO and President, validating rumors that have been swirling for a few weeks now. Outgoing CEO Howard Stringer, meanwhile, has been appointed Chairman of Sony's Board of Directors. The Hirai era officially begins April 1st, while Stringer will assume his new role sometime in June (until then, he'll remain executive chairman). Today's announcement, coming a day before Sony's earnings call, brings an end to more than a year's worth of speculation, though Hirai's selection hardly comes as a surprise, considering his recent string of promotions. In April, he was named Executive Deputy President; five months later, he was promoted to Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman. According to Stringer, in fact, Sony has been grooming Hirai since as early as 2009, when the Board began designing its succession plans. Kaz, he says, stood out from the crowd: 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. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success. It was my honor to recommend him to the Board for the positions of President and CEO, because he is ready to lead, and the time to make this change is now. Kaz, for his part, acknowledges that Sony is going through some "challenging" times at this juncture, but credits Stringer with steadying the ship, and seems clear-minded about the future. "The path we must take is clear: 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 51-year-old PSN architect explained. "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." Click past the break for Sony's full press release.
Nikkei: Kaz Hirai stepping up as Sony president, Stringer staying on as chairman and CEO
It's unfortunate, but it seems unlikely we'll be hearing Sony Computer Entertainment's current "executive deputy president" Kazuo Hirai regaling us with extended "Riiiiiiiiidge Racer!" shouts much more, as Nikkei is reporting he'll be taking over as president of Sony Corporation in the coming months. Current president, CEO and chairman Sir Howard Stringer will apparently be losing a third of his title to Kaz, and the move is expected "as soon as April," as translated by our bilingual cohorts at Engadget. When Hirai was promoted to the deputy president role earlier this year, he became the heir apparent to Stringer's job as president, so it's not exactly an enormous surprise to hear this report. Sony had yet to confirm the news as of publishing, but Nikkei isn't exactly known for its false reporting. All the same, we've reached out for confirmation. Update: Sony tells us it "Doesn't comment on rumor or speculation." Not exactly a denial, but take that as you will.
Sony's Kaz Hirai to step up as president as early as April (updated)
Nikkei is reporting that Sony will be promoting current Executive Deputy President Kazuo "Kaz" Hirai to president as soon as April, while Howard Stringer is expected to remain chairman and CEO of the company. As you may recall, Sony started its search for a new president as far back as November 2010, and with Kaz's two promotions last year (to Executive Deputy President in April and to Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman in September), it isn't surprising that he's the chosen one to pick up some of Sir Howard's work. It'll be a while before we see the consequences of this promotion, and anything can happen between now and the board meeting as early as next month to seal the deal; but here's hoping that under Kaz, Sony will go easy on all these new memory card formats while it further unifies its various groups within the corporation. Update: Bloomberg has received a brief statement from Sony clarifying that the board has not yet made a decision on this promotion, which isn't really a denial of the plan considering the final board meeting has yet to take place.
Sony's CEO is ready to launch a four-screen platform 'that can compete with Steve Jobs'
After announcing that it would completely revamp its struggling TV business after yet another quarter of financial setbacks, what's next for Sony? CEO Howard Stringer tells the Wall Street Journal that R&D is focusing on a "different kind of TV set." He didn't specify whether he was talking about the company's efforts with Google TV or any other technology, however he did note the "really well organized" beauty of the iPhone and said that after a five year quest to build a platform that would compete with Steve Jobs, it's finally ready to launch. This all hinges on Sony's ability to pull its four screens (phones, tablets, PCs, TVs) together with network services like Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited (and hopefully make those Qriocity-birthed offerings famous for something other than being a footnote in its hacking scandal). Sony has finally begun to acknowledge its weaknesses in software and providing a uniform user experience, we'll probably find out more about how it plans to turn that around at CES 2012 in January.
Sony predicting another year of losses, despite growing games sales
2011 hasn't been the best of years for the electronics manufacturing giant known as Sony. Its not just that the company's television and mobile phone divisions have failed to gain much ground against their competitors, but a string of bad luck -- a major Japanese earthquake, flooding in Thailand, rioters in Britain and hackers in, well, cyberspace -- has affected their ability to supply consumers with their products. Citing these events, Sony is anticipating its fourth unprofitable year in a row. This news comes from a New York Times report, which says Sony's video game business is rallying due to strong interest in the Vita, and the ever-increasing sales of the PS3. That just goes to show you that ... video games are better than cameras and televisions. We encourage Canon, Nikon and Panasonic to give up their increasingly irrelevant platforms, and start making video game consoles. Actually, wait: We're going to need TVs, still. You guys keep doing what you're doing.
Sony snaps up the rest of Ericsson -- so long, feature phones
If you've been waiting for the latest and greatest Walkman phone from Sony Ericsson, we've got some bad news. Sony has announced that it plans to buy out Ericsson's 50 percent share in the two companies' joint venture –-- at a cool €1.05 billion ($1.47 billion). The goal of the acquisition, according to Sony, is "to rapidly integrate smartphones into its broad array of network-connected consumer electronics devices." In other words, "feature phones," like the aforementioned Walkman line, are kaput. CEO Howard Stringer confirmed as much during a press conference. The acquisition will allow the company to focus on Android smartphones that will integrate with its other products. As Mr. Stringer puts it, "We can help people enjoy all our content - from movies to music and games - through our many devices, in a way no one else can." The buyout is scheduled to go through this January.
Chipworks throws an iPhone 4S under its infrared microscope, finds Sony-sourced image sensor
Look closely. Can you spot it? That gray abyss is actually an infrared image by Chipworks revealing an iPhone 4S' Sony-branded, 8 megapixel CMOS sensor. Looks like Howard Stringer wasn't bluffing to Walt Mossberg back in April, after all. At the time, it was reported that Apple's usual sensor supplier, OmniVision, was experiencing production delays, prompting speculation that Sony would eventually usurp the position. While the iPhone 4S that Chipworks looked into seems to confirm this, it's pointed out that Apple does have a habit of "dual sourcing" components (with its contacts saying this should be no different), so Sony may not be the sole supplier this time around. What ever the case, there's no denying that the iPhone 4S takes some stellar shots. You'll find more information -- including X-rays of the 4S -- at the source link below.
Stringer: PSN bouncing back after this year's attack
PlayStation Network has had a hell of a time with public relations this year. After the well-publicized attack on the service (which potentially exposed the personal information of millions of users), Sony has done everything it can to regain the trust and goodwill of its customers. It would seem those efforts appear are paying off, according to claims conveyed by CNET. The site reports that Sony CEO Howard Stringer recently addressed the subject at the IFA conference in Berlin, saying that PlayStation Network is "more secure and better than ever." He added that the company is working to expand the service, which has added 3 million new customers since the attack. Furthermore, Stringer noted that PSN sales have actually increased relative to pre-attack levels. According to Stringer, "the summer of our discontent is behind us."
Live from Sony IFA 2011 press event
What better way to kick this year's IFA conference in beautiful Berlin, Germany than a good old fashioned Sony press conference? We're getting ready to get things started here, so sit down, grab a beverage and reach for those 3D glasses to read along at home [note: this liveblog is not in 3D]. Photos by Zach Honig.
Report: Sony CEO Stringer asked to step down by shareholder
During a Q&A session at Sony's annual shareholder meeting last night, an investor asked CEO Howard Stringer why he was still there. Okay, it wasn't that abrupt, but according to AV Watch's report of the proceedings, an investor did call for a change of leadership, due to lowered trust and stock prices after the PSN data breach. Stringer responded by saying the question was understandable, and then apologized for the inconvenience (again). He said Sony is working to strengthen its information management systems to their "maximum." Stringer also told shareholders that, following the resumption of PSN services, 90% of users have returned. Presumably, that's 90% of the users who can return, a group that doesn't include anyone in Japan since PSN access (specifically the store) hasn't been fully reactivated.
Stringer issues apology for 'inconvenience and concern' caused by PSN breach
Capping off a day that's seen his company accused of opening the door to hackers by using outdated software and not using firewalls on its thoroughly compromised PlayStation Network servers, Sony president Sir Howard Stringer has taken to the PlayStation Blog to offer a formal apology for the entire ordeal. In his open letter, Stringer says he and the company are sorry for "the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack," while also addressing what many consider a failure in not letting users know their data was stolen sooner. "I know some believe we should have notified our customers earlier than we did. It's a fair question," he writes. "I wish we could have gotten the answers we needed sooner, but forensic analysis is a complex, time-consuming process. Hackers, after all, do their best to cover their tracks, and it took some time for our experts to find those tracks and begin to identify what personal information had -- or had not -- been taken." On the topic of the stolen data being used by the hackers or connected parties, Stringer says that, "to date, there is no confirmed evidence any credit card or personal information has been misused, and we continue to monitor the situation closely." This comes less than an hour after Sony announced that PSN users will receive a free year of ID theft protection from Debix. Sony says it's in the "final stages" of testing its rebuilt PSN, so hopefully that, combined with Stringer's comments, offers hope that it will get the service back online -- even in a limited form -- by next week.
Sony executive to address media regarding PlayStation Network debacle
If you're curious what Sony higher-ups have to say about the recent PlayStation Network security debacle, you'll want to check out Kazuo Hirai's remarks to the media at 2:00 p.m. Sunday in Tokyo (1:00 a.m. EDT). Hirai, Sony Corp's executive deputy president, is expected to field questions from journalists as well as use his considerable PR skills to put a positive spin on the situation and its aftermath. Much is at stake for the global entertainment giant, including possible legal actions resulting from the compromise of 77 million user accounts (and the company's delayed response and acknowledgment of the problem well after the fact). It's a big moment for Hirai as well; the executive is considered the front-runner in the race to supplant current Sony president Howard Stringer -- who has "been vague about his plans from the next financial year that starts in April 2012" according to Reuters.
PlayStation Network issues persist as hacker collective continues attacks
Taking to the US and EU PlayStation Forums en masse, PlayStation 3 users continue to report connectivity issues with PlayStation Network today. Starting with the declaration of attack by hacker group "Anonymous" earlier this week, PSN has been experiencing sporadic issues over the past few days -- Sony characterized the outages as "intermittent" earlier this week, and promised that "engineers are working to restore and maintain the services." As of the time of publishing, we have been unable to connect to PSN today through several staff accounts. According to a Sony EU forum moderator, a trio of error codes could be showing up for affected users (80710092, 80710D36 and 8071053D), though little else is offered in way of information. "We are currently looking into this and I will update the thread as more information becomes available," the post notes. Additionally, PlayStation Lifestyle reports that a splinter group of Anonymous -- identified as "SonyRecon" -- is apparently going after specific Sony executives, seeking to reveal "names, phone numbers, pictures, home addresses, email, internet protocol address, family members and other data." CEO Sir Howard Stringer is said to be one of the group's targets, among others. As previously detailed, Anonymous launched the attacks on Sony earlier this week as a sign of solidarity with hackers George "GeoHot" Hotz and Alexander "Graf_Chokolo" Egorenkov, both of whom are currently in litigation with Sony.
Report: Sony's PlayStation Certified tablet due this summer
Sony's gearing up to release yet another "PlayStation Certified" device by year end, Nikkei reports (via Bloomberg). Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer confirmed as much to the Japanese newspaper, saying that the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablet will be available in unspecified territories by the end of the summer, with the US receiving the first batch. Oddly, Sony later told Japanese site AV Watch that the tablet would arrive "before the end of this year" -- Engadget speculates that this could both be referring to the Japanese version's release or simply an attempt to muddle things after Stringer said something he shouldn't have. Stringer unfortunately didn't specify if he was referring to the rumored "S1" tablet in development at Sony (mock-up seen above) or the clamshell resemblant "S2" model, both of which are said to feature Honeycomb and ... uh ... both of them are unreleased Sony tablets. Given how Sony handled its last PlayStation Certified device, though, we expect to hear much, much more as 2011 progresses.
Sony's Howard Stringer confirms Honeycomb tablet in US by summer (update)
Ready to taste a sweet Honeycomb tablet with a Sony twist? You'd better be -- Japan's Nikkei is quoting Sony chief executive, Sir Howard Stringer, saying that the company's first Android 3.0 tablet will be on sale by the end of summer. Better yet, it'll pop for retail in the US first, according to the report. This lines up nicely with the reported September launch of a PlayStation Certified Tegra 2 "S1" tablet featuring a 9.4-inch display and unique "wrap" design that we first told you about back in February. Or will it be the S2 clamshell? Who knows, Howard isn't saying. The new tablet tattle was apparently uttered at the same event where Howard spilled the beans about Apple's plan to use Sony sensors. Come on Howie, quit the teasing and just come out with it you saucy Welsh minx. Update: Sony told Japanese site AV Watch that it will release the tablet before the end of this year. It's unclear if the comment relates to the domestic Japanese model or if it's meant to temper expectations after the company's rogue CEO spoke out of turn. Regardless, it's coming.
Sony CEO casually mentions he's supplying cameras to Apple
We were tempted to call it an April Fools' joke, but it seems the story's true: Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer reportedly let slip that his company is producing cameras for the next batch of iPhones and iPads during a public interview with the Wall Street Journal. Traditionally, Apple's sourced its sensors from OmniVision, including the delightfully backside-illuminated 5 megapixel CMOS unit you'll find in the iPhone 4, but since Sony too has BSI tech and OmniVision has reportedly encountered delays, your next portable Apple product might house a Sony Exmor R sensor like the one we admired on the Xperia Arc. Mind you, that may not end up actually happening, because of the context in which Sir Howard revealed the news -- according to 9 to 5 Mac, he said that the factory producing sensors for Apple was affected by the Japanese tsunami. Oh well.
Kaz Hirai promoted, next in line for Sony CEO spot
Kaz Hirai is a familiar name for anyone following the gaming sector. The one-time head of Sony Computer Entertainment America has been making headlines since the days of the original PlayStation. After returning to Japan to replace Ken Kutaragi as President of Sony Computer Entertainment, things have been looking up for Hirai. This morning, it's being reported that a corporate realignment will have Hirai acting as "executive deputy president," heading up Sony's consumer products unit, one of two core post-realignment groups. "This is an opportunity for the board to watch Hirai san and judge his performance," current CEO Howard Stringer said. "There may be other candidates, but he has a leadership position." That leadership position is due in no small part to "the turnaround of the games business," which was singled out. Hirai's promotion takes effect on April 1 and, while it's not a joke, his ascension to CEO is far from guaranteed. "The board and I have talked about succession planning and this is the first step," Stringer said. "We have not made a final decision." The other potential candidate? Hiroshi Yoshioka, who will head up Sony's other core division, "covering business to business areas such as semiconductors, batteries and other key components." While that may sound really boring, Stringer notes, "Yoshioka san has an opportunity to make a lot of money in his group, so the race isn't over."
