Sony Corporation has announced that Kazuo Hirai has been appointed the company's President and CEO, effective April 1.

Hirai will take over the day-to-day management duties of Sir Howard Stringer, who will remain Chairman of the company until June, before becoming Sony's Chairman of the Board of Directors. Current Chairman of the Board, Yotaro Kobayashi will be retiring at that time.

Stringer recommended to the Sony Board of Directors that Hirai be his successor. Hirai is currently the company's Executive Deputy President.

"Three years ago, I started to work with the Board on succession plans, and in February, 2009 we named a new generation of leaders to be my management team. Among them was Kaz Hirai, who had distinguished himself through his work in the PlayStation and networked entertainment businesses," says Stringer. "Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature.

"I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead," he continues. "I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success. It was my honor to recommend him to the Board for the positions of President and CEO, because he is ready to lead, and the time to make this change is now."

Hirai expressed his gratitude to Stringer and the Board, before laying out his thoughts on what the future plans of Sony should be.

"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," notes Hirai. "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 adds. "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."

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