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is a Japanese businessman. He is best known as the former chairman of
Sony Corporation , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
, serving from April 2018 to June 2019, as well as president and CEO from April 2012 to April 2018. He also served as a board member of
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
and chairman and co-CEO of
Sony Entertainment Sony Entertainment, Inc. is an American entertainment company established in 2012. It focuses on most of Sony's motion picture, television and music businesses. It is a subsidiary of the Japanese Sony Group Corporation, managed by Sony's Americ ...
. He was noted by ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' as one of the most powerful executives in the entertainment industry. He led the Sony Computer Entertainment division between 2007 and 2012, and then became president and CEO of Sony in April 2012. Through his tenure as CEO, Sony experienced a resurgence during the 2010s. In 2018, Hirai stepped down as president and CEO, becoming chairman of Sony Corporation. He fully retired from Sony in June 2019, otherwise remaining as a senior adviser to the company.


Early life

Kazuo Hirai was born on December 22, 1960, in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
, where he attended the
American School in Japan The American School in Japan (ASIJ; ja, アメリカンスクール・イン・ジャパン) is an international private day school located in the city of Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. The school consists of an elementary school, a middle school, and a ...
. Between 1973 and 1976, Hirai attended Valley Park Middle School in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, Canada. The son of a wealthy banker, Hirai often traveled with his father across the world to California, New York, 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 is a non-denominational private university located in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan, commonly known as ICU. With the efforts of Prince Takamatsu, General Douglas MacArthur, and BOJ President Hisato Ichimada, ICU was established in 1949 as the first ...
in August 1984 with a
Bachelor of Liberal Arts The Bachelor of Liberal Arts (BLA or ALB) is the title of an undergraduate bachelor's degree. Generally, it is awarded to students who major in liberal arts, pursue interdisciplinary studies, or design their own concentrations. Often a ''Bachelor ...
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 , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is oper ...
in 1984, starting out in CBS/Sony Inc.'s (now Sony Music Entertainment Japan) marketing department. Afterwards, he became 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.


Sony Computer Entertainment

In August 1995, Hirai joined Sony's computer and video game division,
Sony Computer Entertainment America Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
. He was promoted to executive vice president-chief operations officer in July 1996. One year later, in 1997, Hirai was credited on his first completed video game. With the release of the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on ...
in 2000, Kazuo continued his success, utilizing second-party video game franchises such as ''
Jak and Daxter ''Jak and Daxter'' is an action-adventure video game franchise created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series was originally developed by Naughty Dog with a number of installments being outsourced ...
'', ''
Ratchet & Clank ''Ratchet & Clank'' is a series of action platformer and third-person shooter video games. The franchise was created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation consoles, such as PlayStation ...
'', '' Sly Cooper'' and '' SOCOM'' 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. On November 30, 2006, just under two weeks after the launch of
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
, Hirai replaced
Ken Kutaragi is a Japanese engineering technologist and businessman. He is the former chairman and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the video game division of Sony Corporation, and current president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment. He is known ...
as president of Sony Computer Entertainment. While maintaining his positions at SCEA, Hirai also became
chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...
of SCEI. Kutaragi himself was promoted to chairman of SCEI, and remained chief executive officer of the group. 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. 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 Daybreak Game Company LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. The company was founded in December 1997 as Sony Online Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, but was spun off to an independent investor in ...
), personal computer ( VAIO), mobile devices (including
Walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for p ...
and
Xperia Xperia () is the brand name of smartphones and tablets from Sony. The name Xperia is derived from the word "experience", and was first used in the Xperia X1 tagline of "I Xperia the best". Sony Mobile was previously known globally as Sony Er ...
) and network service (
Sony Entertainment Network Sony Entertainment Network (SEN) was a digital media delivery service operated by Sony. SEN provided access to services, including PlayStation Network for games, Video Unlimited for film and television, Music Unlimited for music, and PlayMemor ...
, including online distributions of music, video, games, eBooks, etc.) businesses and new business incubation projects. Hirai became chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment on September 1, 2011, and was replaced by Andrew House as president and group CEO. He retired as chairman of SCEI on June 25, 2012, but remains on the board of directors.


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. Hirai was speculated to become the successor to Howard Stringer, the current sitting
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
and
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of
Sony Corporation , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
, who was then expected to step down in 2013. On February 1, 2012, Sony announced that Hirai has been appointed as president and chief executive officer, effective April 1, 2012. He was appointed to the board at the annual shareholders meeting on June 27, 2012. On February 2, 2018, Sony announced that Hirai will be stepping down as president and CEO, effective April 1, 2018, to be replaced by CFO
Kenichiro Yoshida Kenichiro Yoshida is a Japanese businessman who is currently the chief executive officer of Sony. He began this role in April 2018, succeeding Kazuo Hirai, prior to which Yoshida was the company's chief financial officer. Yoshida joined Sony in 1 ...
. Hirai remained as the company's chairman and served on the board of directors to help the company transition to leadership under Yoshida. Hirai announced on March 28, 2019, that he would be retiring as chairman of Sony on June 18, 2019, though he will continue to act as a senior advisor at Sony's request. Hirai stated he was confident that Yoshida would be able to continue the leadership of Sony on his own. Following his retirement, Hirai remained as a senior advisor to the company.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirai, Kaz 1960 births American School in Japan alumni Businesspeople from Tokyo Japanese chairpersons of corporations Japanese chief executives Living people Japanese video game businesspeople Sony Interactive Entertainment people Chief operating officers 20th-century Japanese businesspeople 21st-century Japanese businesspeople International Christian University alumni Sony people