Welshman named new Sony boss
Howard Stringer, the Welsh-born head of Sony’s US business, became the first foreigner to head the Japanese electronics and entertainment company today, underlining changes in Japan’s often insular business management.
More than 6,000 shareholders met at a Tokyo hotel to vote on the approval of Stringer and a team of new executives to lead the struggling company.
The lively two-hour exchange, shown on television screens to reporters, was symbolic of the gradual transformation of shareholders’ meetings – once so perfunctory they were called “clap-clap meetings” for the passage of proposals with ritualistic applause.
This year’s shareholder meetings, mostly being held this week and next, are expected to touch on issues that highlight the increasing globalisation of Japanese companies.
Fears of hostile take-overs, once unknown in Japan, where networks of companies held stakes in each other, are prompting some companies to adopt “poison pill” clauses and other preventive measures.
But nowhere was the message of changing Japan clearer than at the Sony meeting, where shareholders appeared to welcome a foreigner to guide the faltering company, while some pushed for a more open management, including more women board members and fuller disclosure of executive salaries.
Foreign executives at major Japanese companies are still extremely rare. But they have gradually won acceptance, often as comeback leaders as troubled companies partner with foreign corporations.
Masanori Wada, a shareholder who has seen his Sony stocks nosedive to about half their value since buying them four years ago, said he welcomed Stringer as the new boss.
“It’s a good thing because Sony is an international company,” he said after the meeting.
About half of Sony shareholders are now foreign. The ranks of individual Japanese investors also are growing, reflecting the gradual trend toward stock ownership in Japan.
Gone are the days when management was so intent on harmonious shareholder meetings that gangsters called “sokaiya” were able to make a career out of extorting money by threatening to disrupt them by asking embarrassing questions.
Stringer, aged 63, a dual British-US national who has helped turn Sony’s music and movie business into one of its few bright spots in recent years, faces an enormous challenge.
Sony has been hit with losses in its consumer electronics business amid competition from cheaper Asian rivals.
It has been weighed down with restructuring costs while getting beaten in key growth sectors, such as portable music players like Apple Computer's iPod.
Sony’s long-time dream of boosting profits by linking electronics gadgets with movies and music has been elusive. And some analysts say Sony has grown too big for its own good.
But analysts also say Sony’s strength is its mighty brand, built over a half-century with Walkman players, Trinitron TVs and PlayStation video-game machines.
John Yang, equity analyst with Standard & Poor’s in Tokyo, said Sony must keep spending on research to maintain that premium. But Stringer’s appointment is a plus, he said, showing that Sony is serious about answering to shareholders.
Nobuyuki Idei, who is being replaced by Stringer, and other executives said Sony will return to its past glory because it still boasts first-rate technology and merely needs to do more to match that with consumer trends and tastes.
“The question is not whether someone is Japanese or a foreigner,” Idei said of Stringer’s appointment. “The more important question is that person’s managerial competence and what kind of spirit he possesses.”
Stringer assured investors that he planned to engineer Sony’s revival.
“I am first and foremost a Sony warrior,” he said. “This is our destiny, and this is our responsibility.”
Sony shares closed up slightly on the Tokyo Stock Exchange today.
