Sony Names New CEO

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/Sonys+board+taps+British+exec+for+CEO/2100-1047_3-5601421.html?tag=nefd.top' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/Sonys+board+taps+British+exec+for+CEO/2100-1047_3-5601421.html?tag=nefd.top</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Sony's board of directors unanimously approved the selection of a British executive as the company's new chief executive and chairman amid a management shake-up Sunday at the electronics and entertainment giant. The company announced the appointment of Howard Stringer to lead Sony during an emergency meeting called by Nobuyuki Idei, whom Stringer will succeed. The changes are effective immediately but final approval will come following a shareholder vote on June 22."</i><br /><br />This could signal a big shift for Sony. What impact this new exec will have on Sony's consumer products remains to be seen. The company is facing a number of serious internal problems, and if the board is willing to place an "outsider" at the helm, that tells you just how bad things are. We'll see what happens.

[Jerry Raia]

I hope it signals the death of the Memory Stick.

[Jason Dunn]

A non-Japanese person leading SONY? This is stunning. 8O

[Felix Torres]

A non-Japanese person leading SONY? This is stunning. 8O

Very.
More so when you add-in that he's a non-techie.
*And* the lead techie for the role not only didn't get the job but got bounced down a notch.

Hard to avoid thinking the board was looking for a Management and Marketing kinda guy, rather than a tech/engineering boy.
Which suggests we may see a bit less of NIHS and more realistic market appraisals for their tech. Don't think this guy would've taken five years to add MP3 support to Sony audio gear...

I wonder how he feels about buying tech from the outside...

Here's a recent interview with him:

http://news.com.com/Can+Sony+reinvent+itself+as+cool/2008-1041_3-5543793.html?tag=nl

[Kent Pribbernow]

Even more shocking when you consider how xenophobic the Japanese are as a culture. I wonder how Japanese society will take this news? Years ago when Ford acquired a majority stake in Mazda, Japanese customers literally walked out of showrooms in protest, and launched a movement to petition the Japanese government to block the deal because they couldn't bear the thought of an American company controlling a Japanese company.

[Jason Dunn]

Indeed. Culturally, this is a very strange move for SONY. I wonder though if they looked at the way Samsung is starting to eat their lunch and realized they needed a radical shift in corporate culture if they want to stay alive?

[Felix Torres]

For SONY, apparently the choice was between a foreign insider or japanese outsider. And the foreigner has had a good track record running the US divisions.

They went with the known quantity.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Wow, a gaijin leading a Japanese company, and one famous for closed systems no less. Wonder what strange things will happen now..