Kaz Hirai is to focus on his role as President after a reshuffle at Sony.
Kaz Hirai, master of all things PlayStation-related, has retired as representative director and chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment. This follows on his promotion in April to President and CEO of Sony, and likely represents a refocus for Hirai away from his former duties and towards his new position as boss of the whole shop.
When Hirai was promoted in April 2011 there was speculation that this was part of a long-term plan to replace Howard Stringer as Sony Corporation CEO, which indeed he did do in April 2012. Stringer, who is currently Chairman of Sony, announced his departure as part-time Sony Board Member at the same time that Hirai retired. As a consequence of this reshuffle Hirai has essentially replaced Stringer as part-time Board Member.
Hirai hasn’t made a public statement yet, but in the past he’s not been shy about talking about the challenges Sony faces. “We really need to buckle down and be realistic,” he said in February this year, “I don’t think everybody [working at the company] is on board, but I think people are coming around to the idea that if we don’t turn this around, we could be sitting in some serious trouble.”
Now that he’s Sony’s new boss, he has his chance to reshape the future of the company.
