Sony's CEO Kaz Hirai Maintains That Consumer Electronics Division Needs Most Help
posted Sunday Jul 14, 2013 by Nicholas DiMeo
Sony CEO Kaz Hirai has a lot on his plate right now. The executive announced a revival plan last year that included a purchase of cloud-gaming company Gaikai for $380 million. Now, with rumors swirling on a possible spinoff of Sony's entertainment and media division, Hirai has remained firm in saying that despite the pressure, the sinking consumer electronics division is what needs help the most.
At a conference this week, Kaz Hirai said,
I don't worry about the entertainment business, it's doing just fine. Electronics is what needs the most work. Television manufacturing and the marriage of music and video to mobile devices are big areas of focus at Sony.
As discussed on our show, Third Point LLC, an investment firm, is pushing for Sony to spinoff its media division and have it start its own IPO to boost stock price. The Sony board is still undergoing review of the proposal, but Hirai remained firm that phone, TV and laptop sales must be improved to give Sony the best chance at coming out of this company-level recession. Last month in June during an investor call, he also promised his staff and stockholders that he will make noticeable differences in the company in order to revive the electronics sales, which are credited for Sony's nine straight annual losses, totaling $8 billion.
For Sony, this upcoming holiday season will be huge for the company as a whole, with the release of the PlayStation 4. Considering that the game console could play a huge role in total revenue and profit for Sony, a strong marketing plan will be essential for sales and success for the device. Can Sony continue to ride the tide of misplaced trust in the brand by the consumers following Microsoft's choice to not explain their reasoning at E3? It might give the company just enough of a profit to then spend money focusing on improving the rest of the consumer electronics division, preventing Sony from being bought out or closed altogether. For Sony's sake, I do wish to see them succeed in coming out of the red for the first time in ten years and I think Kaz Hirai could be the guy to turn it all around.