Kazuo Hirai

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Kazuo Hirai at the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona

Kazuo "Kaz" Hirai ( Japanese 平井 一夫 , Hirai Kazuo ; born December 22, 1960 in Tokyo Prefecture ) is a Japanese manager and was managing director of the Japanese electronics company Sony from April 2012 to April 2018 . Hirai was instrumental in the success of the PlayStation game console and Sony's entry into the computer games market.

Life

Hirai was born in Tokyo in 1960 to a wealthy banker. He studied at the International Christian University in Tokyo and graduated in August 1984 with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts . After graduating, he worked in marketing at the music company CBS / Sony Inc. , initially in Japan, then in New York. On his first day at Sony, he met his future wife. The marriage had two children.

In 1995 he moved to the US subsidiary of Sony's computer games division Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI), Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA).

Under the direction of the SCEI boss Ken Kutaragi and with a significant participation of Hirai, Sony became a leading provider in the field of game consoles and computer games with the PlayStation from 1994/1995. On July 1, 2006, Hirai was promoted to Vice President of SCEI, and on November 30 of the same year he took over the role of President and Group COO of SCEI in addition to his position at SCEA from Kutaragi . On April 26, 2007, Hirai was appointed Kutaragi's successor as President and Group CEO of the SCEI group of companies and thus the sole head of the Playstation division.

On April 1, 2009, Sony Computer Entertainment became part of the newly created business unit Networked Products & Services Group, which in addition to the PlayStation Group also included the business units Personal Computer ( VAIO ), mobile products ( Walkman , Xperia ) and Sony Media Software & Services. While maintaining his duties as President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, Hirai became President and Head of the new business unit and Vice President of the parent company Sony Corporation. On April 1, 2011, after a further restructuring of Sony's business activities into the Consumer Products & Devices group and a business-to-business division, Hirai took over as Executive Deputy President of the larger Consumer division, making him a potential successor of the previous CEO Howard Stringer advanced. In fact, he succeeded Stringer on April 1, 2012 at the top as President and CEO of the Sony Corporation as a whole. In his new role, he first presented a rescue plan for the economically troubled group. On April 1, 2018, he gave up his position as CEO of Sony to the previous CFO Kenichiro Yoshida.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Sony CEO: 'I'm Not Entertaining Even the Notion of Selling Our Entertainment Assets' at variety.com, accessed March 5, 2014
  2. ^ Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc .: Kaz Hirai, President and Chief Executive Officer . Retrieved November 30, 2006.
  3. ↑ Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc .: News of corporate executive affairs ( Japanese , PDF; 112 kB) July 3, 2005. Archived from the original on February 21, 2007. Information: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 30, 2006. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.scei.co.jp
  4. ↑ Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc .: SCE Announces New Management Team ( English , PDF; 72 kB) November 30, 2006. Archived from the original on December 6, 2006. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 30, 2006. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.scei.co.jp
  5. ↑ Ben Parfitt: Farewell Mr Playstation ( English ) In: Mcvuk . April 26, 2007. Retrieved April 26, 2007.
  6. ^ Sony Corporation Announces Major Reorganization and New Management Team Led by Howard Stringer ( English ) Sony Corporation. February 27, 2009. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
  7. ^ Executive Appointments ( English ) Sony Corporation. March 31, 2009. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
  8. ↑ Tor Thorsen: Games business chief promoted to head of consumer products unit, putting him in line to succeed Sir Howard Stringer as CEO ( English ) In: GameSpot . CBS Interactive . March 10, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  9. ↑ Isabel Reynolds: Sony promotes Hirai as possible successor to CEO ( English ) Reuters. March 10, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  10. ↑ Sony names Kazuo Hirai as President and CEO; Sir Howard Stringer to become Chairman of the Board of Directors ( English ) Sony Corporation. February 1, 2012. Retrieved February 1, 2012.
  11. ↑ CEO Sony swears by hard times at spiegel.de, accessed on March 5, 2014
  12. ↑ Sony boss presents comprehensive rescue plan at handelsblatt.com, accessed on March 5, 2014
  13. ↑ Kazuo Hirai: Sony makes record profit - and exchanges the boss . In: FAZ.NET . February 2, 2018, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed April 26, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Hirai, Kazuo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 平井 一夫 (Japanese); Hirai, Kaz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese manager
DATE OF BIRTH December 22nd, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Tokyo Prefecture , Japan