Kazuo Hirai

Kazuo Hirai

Hirai at the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona
Born (1960-12-22) December 22, 1960[1]
Tokyo, Japan
Alma mater International Christian University
Occupation President and CEO, Sony Corporation

Kazuo "Kaz" Hirai (平井 一夫 Hirai Kazuo, born December 22, 1960) is the President and CEO of Sony Corporation. He also serves as a member of the board of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony.[2][3] He was noted by Entertainment Weekly as one of the most powerful executives in the entertainment industry.[4] Hirai became the President and CEO of Sony on April 1, 2012.[5][6]

Early life

Kazuo Hirai was born in 1960 in Tokyo, Japan, where he attended the American School in Japan.[7] Between 1973 and 1976, Hirai attended Valley Park Middle School in Toronto.[8] The son of a wealthy banker, Hirai often traveled with his father across the world to California, New York, and Canada and around Japan a trait which Hirai noted to be a major factor in his later multi-continental business success.

It was his interest in games that later brought him into the entertainment business. After graduating from the International Christian University in August 1984 with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree, Hirai was hired at CBS/Sony Inc. (now Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.), where he was involved in marketing international music within Japan. He eventually became head of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan's international business affairs office in New York.

Career

CBS/Sony Inc.

Kazuo Hirai began his career with Sony Music Entertainment Japan in 1984, starting out in CBS/Sony Inc.'s (now Sony Music Entertainment Japan) marketing department. Afterwards, becoming the head of Sony's international business affairs department. He then moved to Sony Music Japan’s New York office, leading the marketing of Sony Music Japan artists in the U.S.[9]

Sony Computer Entertainment

In August 1995, Hirai joined Sony's computer and video game division, Sony Computer Entertainment America.[4] Two years later, in 1997, Hirai was credited on his first completed video game. With the release of the PlayStation 2 in 2000, Kazuo continued his success, utilizing second-party video game franchises such as Jak and Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs series of games. Under his leadership, SCEA continually managed to retain high profits throughout the sixth generation era.

On July 3, 2006, Sony Computer Entertainment announced that Hirai had been made a vice president of its corporate executive group.[10] On November 30, 2006, just under two weeks after the launch of PlayStation 3, Hirai replaced Ken Kutaragi as President of Sony Computer Entertainment. While maintaining his positions at SCEA, Hirai also became chief operating officer of SCEI. Kutaragi himself was promoted to chairman of SCEI, and remained chief executive officer of the group.[11] On April 26, 2007, it was announced that Hirai will be promoted to President and Group CEO of SCEI, replacing Ken Kutaragi who would retire and instead take up the role of Honorary Chairman.[12][13][14][15]

On April 1, 2009, Sony’s electronics and game businesses were merged and reconfigured as two major groups: the Consumer Products & Devices Group (CPDG) and the Networked Products & Services Group (NPSG). Hirai was appointed as Corporate Executive Officer and Executive Vice President of Sony Corporation, concurrently serving as president of the NPSG. He has overseen all development, production and marketing activities at the NPSG, comprising Sony's game (i.e. SCEI & Sony Online Entertainment), personal computer (VAIO), mobile devices (including Walkman and Xperia) and network service (Sony Entertainment Network, including online distributions of music, video, games, eBooks, etc.) businesses and new business incubation projects.[16][17] Hirai became Chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment on September 1, 2011 and was replaced by Andrew House as President and Group CEO.[18] He retired as Chairman of SCEI on June 25, 2012 but remains on the board of directors.[3]

Sony Corporation

On April 1, 2011, Hirai was promoted to Representative Corporate Executive Officer and Executive Deputy President of Sony Corporation. He oversaw the Consumer Products & Services Group.[2][19] Hirai was speculated to become the successor to Howard Stringer, the current sitting president and CEO of Sony Corporation, who was then expected to step down in 2013.[20]

On February 1, 2012, Sony announced that Hirai has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2012.[21] He was appointed to the Board at the annual shareholders meeting on June 27, 2012.[22]

References

  1. Sony Corporation. "Form 20F (Annual Report) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-06-28.
  2. 1 2 "Sony Corporation Announces Executive Appointments and Realignment of Key Businesses". Sony Corporation. 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
  3. 1 2 "Executive appointments". Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. 2012-06-25. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  4. 1 2 Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. "Kaz Hirai, President and Chief Executive Officer". Retrieved 2006-11-30.
  5. "Executive Appointments". Sony Corporation. 2012-02-01. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  6. "Sony Establishes New Management Structure". Sony Corporation. 2012-03-27. Retrieved 2012-04-02.
  7. http://community.asij.ac.jp/page.aspx?pid=2153
  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67M-Ut-ltAM, retrieved 2015-10-18 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. Sony Corporatation. "Sony Leadership Team". Retrieved 2014-01-28.
  10. Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. (2005-07-03). "News of corporate executive affairs" (PDF) (in Japanese). Retrieved 2006-11-30.
  11. Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. (2006-11-30). "SCE Announces New Management Team" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-11-30.
  12. "Kutaragi to retire from executive role at Sony". gamesindustry.biz. April 26, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
  13. "Farewell Mr Playstation". mvcuk. April 26, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
  14. "PlayStation creator Kutaragi resigns". CNET News.com. April 26, 2007. Archived from the original on 2012-06-30. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  15. "Farewell, Father". GamesIndustry.biz. April 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  16. "Sony Corporation Announces Major Reorganization and New Management Team Led by Howard Stringer". Sony Corporation. 2009-02-27. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  17. "Executive Appointments". Sony Corporation. 2009-03-31. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  18. "SCEI Announces New Management Team" (Press release). Sony Computer Entertainment. 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
  19. "Games business chief promoted to head of consumer products unit, putting him in line to succeed Sir Howard Stringer as CEO". gamespot.com. March 10, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  20. "Sony promotes Hirai as possible successor to CEO". Reuters. March 10, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  21. "Sony names Kazuo Hirai as President and CEO; Sir Howard Stringer to become Chairman of the Board of Directors". Sony Corporation. 2012-02-01. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  22. "New Sony president Kazuo Hirai gets shareholder approval". 26 June 2012.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Kazuo Hirai
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kazuo Hirai.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.