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Kaz Hirai Named Sony President

It's official: Kaz Hirai has been named President and CEO of Sony Corp. effective April 1. He was previously named Chairman back in June 2011. Howard Stringer, currently Chairman, CEO and President, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors in June, 2012, Sony said in a statement.

“As challenging as times are for Sony now, 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," Kaz said. "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: 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."

He added: "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."

Sony denied a report from Japan last month confirming his promotion.

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Comments
  • Okay. I thought he said wasn't going to become the CEO, but whatever. I don't really see how this affects anything anyways.

  • Good for Kaz. I can already imagine the numerous, stupid April Fools comments, but I'm interested to see how well he's going to steer that ship.
  • April Fools! Kaz Hirai and Sony  semi trolled rumors.

  • Hurray for Jim and hurray for late night news, and great news at that

  • April 1st, huh? Suspicious. Also, Sir Howard? Is he a knight?
  • He doesn't seem like the type to make mistakes(cough* 3ds) and he seems very enthusiastic. Good luck to Sony.
  • I love how Sony denied the rumors of Kaz Hirai being promoted and then come to found out he is being promoted. Sony could of said this before, they didn't need to hide it.
  • Time to get paid... That's a big title.
  • can't sleep Jim?

  • I got high hopes Kaz, they need a fresh set of eyes out there for their ventures...

  • He better do something great to try to get PS3/PS4 back on top.

  • IT'S RIIIIIIIIDGE RACERRRRRRRRRRRRR
  • This is a guy who started with Sony by marketing international music, later moved up into Sony's video game division, was a primary reason for the Playstation's success, then became executive vice president, then president and now CEO. Pretty successful tenure so far, I'd say. Hopefully he can breath new life into Sony.

  • I feel that this means a bright future for Sony, and a bright future for video games in general. Good Luck Mr Hirai and Mr Stringer.

  • This man has done wonders for Sony. Hopefully he will be able to make the PS4 even better.

  • This under no way concerns me. I play x-box.In fact, why did i click this link??
  • Crazy Kaz - at least we can expect several more years of outlandish and questionable claims from Sony now that there's no one around to muzzle Kaz.

  • He sounds good....

  • This just in, Sony Chairman and Ridge Racer fan promoted to President and CEO of Sony

  • Good for him....

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