Kazuo Hirai

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 Computer Entertainment, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony. He was noted by Entertainment Weekly as one of the most powerful executives in the entertainment industry. Hirai became the President and CEO of Sony on April 1, 2012.

Early life

Kazuo Hirai was born in 1960 in Tokyo, Japan, where he attended the American School in Japan. Between 1973 and 1976, Hirai attended Valley Park Middle School in Toronto. 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.

Sony

Sony Corporation (ソニー株式会社, Sonī Kabushiki Gaisha), commonly referred to as Sony /ˈsoʊniː/, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Kōnan Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified business includes consumer and professional electronics, gaming, entertainment and financial services. The company is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products for the consumer and professional markets. Sony is ranked 116th on the 2015 list of Fortune Global 500.

Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its four operating segments – electronics (including video games, network services and medical business), motion pictures, music and financial services. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Mobile Communications (formerly Sony Ericsson) and Sony Financial. Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders and as of 2013, the fourth-largest television manufacturer in the world, after Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and TCL.

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer (CEO in American English) or managing director (MD in British English) describes the position of the most senior corporate officer, executive, or administrator in charge of managing an organization. The CEO of a corporation or company typically reports to the board of directors and is charged with maximizing the value of the entity. Titles also often given to the holder of the CEO position include president and chief executive (CE).

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of an organization's CEO are set by the organization's board of directors or other authority, depending on the organization's legal structure. They can be far-reaching or quite limited and are typically enshrined in a formal delegation of authority.

Typically, the CEO/MD has responsibilities as a director, decision maker, leader, manager and executor. The communicator role can involve the press and the rest of the outside world, as well as the organization's management and employees; the decision-making role involves high-level decisions about policy and strategy. As a leader of the company, the CEO/MD advises the board of directors, motivates employees, and drives change within the organization. As a manager, the CEO/MD presides over the organization's day-to-day operations. The term refers to the person who takes all the decisions regarding the upliftment of the company, which includes all sectors and fields of the business like operations, marketing, business Development, finance, Human resources, etc. The CEO of a company is not necessarily the owner of the company.