Sony CEO wins nod to steer a turnaround
Source: Agencies |
June 28, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
KAZUO Hirai, the former head of Sony's game division, won shareholder approval yesterday to steer a turnaround at the struggling Japanese electronics giant as its new president and chief executive.
But frustrated investors at the company's annual meeting in Tokyo grilled him and other board members, demanding to know how the company's past glory was going to be revived.
One shareholder got up without being picked to speak, and began shouting. Another shareholder asked why Howard Stringer, whom Hirai replaced, was staying on as chairman when Sony's performance had been so dismal under his seven-year tenure. Reporters were able to watch the proceedings on a monitor.
Tokyo-based Sony, once an icon of Japan Inc with its portable Walkman music player, reported its worst loss in its 66-year corporate history for the financial year ended on March 31. Its profitability was battered by the tsunami disaster in 2011, flooding in Thailand, the global economic slowdown and a soaring yen.
The plunging prices of gadgets have also hurt Sony. Its annual loss last fiscal year of 457 billion yen (US$5.7 billion) was its fourth straight year of red ink.
More critically, it has stumbled in the face of powerful rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea, which dominates the global TV business, and Apple Inc with its iPhone and iPad offerings. Apple's devices have been bigger hits than Sony products even in the Japanese market. Sony has lost money for eight straight years in its mainstay TV business.
But frustrated investors at the company's annual meeting in Tokyo grilled him and other board members, demanding to know how the company's past glory was going to be revived.
One shareholder got up without being picked to speak, and began shouting. Another shareholder asked why Howard Stringer, whom Hirai replaced, was staying on as chairman when Sony's performance had been so dismal under his seven-year tenure. Reporters were able to watch the proceedings on a monitor.
Tokyo-based Sony, once an icon of Japan Inc with its portable Walkman music player, reported its worst loss in its 66-year corporate history for the financial year ended on March 31. Its profitability was battered by the tsunami disaster in 2011, flooding in Thailand, the global economic slowdown and a soaring yen.
The plunging prices of gadgets have also hurt Sony. Its annual loss last fiscal year of 457 billion yen (US$5.7 billion) was its fourth straight year of red ink.
More critically, it has stumbled in the face of powerful rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea, which dominates the global TV business, and Apple Inc with its iPhone and iPad offerings. Apple's devices have been bigger hits than Sony products even in the Japanese market. Sony has lost money for eight straight years in its mainstay TV business.
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