“Sony Corp. board Chairman Howard Stringer, who became the first non-Japanese executive to lead the company, said he will retire in June,” Cliff Edwards reports for Bloomberg. “Stringer, 71, will step down at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, he said last week in a speech at the Japan Society in New York. Kazuo Hirai, 52, succeeded him as chief executive officer about a year ago.”
Edwards reports, “A surprise choice for CEO in June 2005, the Welsh-born Stringer struggled to bring Sony into a digital age where rivals offered phones and TVs with more features at often lower prices. Samsung Electronics Co.’s efficient manufacturing and the success of Apple Inc.’s iPod and iPad forced him to focus on cutting costs. Sony posted a record 457 billion-yen ($4.8 billion) loss in the 12 months ended March 2012, Stringer’s last year as chief executive of the Tokyo-based company. ‘Considering the poor earnings result last year, he should have stepped down even earlier,’ said Yasuo Nakane, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote of Stringer and beleaguered Sony way back in May 2009:
Isn’t a “turnaround plan” supposed to show some signs of, you know, turning something around?
Related articles:
Struggling Sony names Hirai president and CEO, replacing Stringer – February 1, 2012
Sony CEO Stringer under fire as 25 million more accounts hacked – May 3, 2011
No wonder Sony’s beleaguered: CEO Stringer says ‘Apple’s iTunes Store uses proprietary FairPlay DRM’ – May 14, 2009
Sony CEO Stringer calls Apple CEO Steve Jobs ‘greedy’ – July 19, 2007
Sony board votes Howard Stringer company’s first non-Japanese CEO – March 7, 2005
I can’t believe he lasted that long.
The Sony inner politics must be catastrophic in order for Stringer to be strung along. I don’t envy anyone working for Sony right now. A serious turnaround after a leadership crash is incredibly difficult. Ask Apple.
His public statements always seemed to indicate that he didn’t have much of a clue where Sony should be heading and where he did indicate a course it usually seemed like the wrong course.
He’s not the only CEO like that, he does put me very much in mind of a certain Mr B, but fortunately Sony’s management are more astute than M’s management, so Mr B is likely to stay on for a while.
Mr B is there specifically because he was the roommate of Mr G. That completes his qualifications. I believe there’s a organizational behavior term for that…
Sony needs to start manufacturing LCD displays for Apple. Now that would be a good turn around maneuver.
They also need to continue their clock radio product line.
Apple and Sony’s R&D teaming up. That could be brilliant, if there are any quality R&D techs left at Sony. I suspect not.
Is it possible Stringer T. Clown is related to Ballmer T. Clown?
Sir Howard Stringer used to be a TV Producer- of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. I still cannot fathom how anybody saw fit to promote him until he found himself at Sony.
The Peter Principle at work.
Employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence.