Welshman to head Sony Corporation
Sony shareholders today approved Welsh-born Howard Stringer as the new chief executive, the first foreigner to head the Japanese electronics and entertainment company.
A native of Cardiff who later acquired US citizenship, Stringer, 63, has helped make Sony’s music and movie business one of the Tokyo-based company’s few bright spots in recent years. He replaces Nobuyuki Idei, 67, who led the Tokyo-based company for a decade.
The vote to promote Stringer came at a general shareholders meeting in Tokyo.
Stringer faces an enormous challenge in turning around Sony, which 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 growing sectors like portable music players by the iPod from Apple Computer.
Before joining Sony in 1997, Stringer had a 30-year career as a journalist, producer and executive at US television network CBS. His key role at Sony would be to develop strategic links between the entertainment and electronics business, a plan that Sony has talked about for years but has never fully realised.
Stringer took US citizenship in 1985, becoming a dual British-American national, according to Sony.
