Sony has announced that Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki will take over as President, taking over from chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida.
Yoshida will remain as chairman and CEO, giving the company a two-leader structure.
The CEO said Totoki “has a deep understanding of business operations”.
“As CFO, he has drafted management plans for the group and supported investments in growth. I’ve seen and learned a great deal from his bird’s-eye view of the business environment,” Yoshida explained.
This bird’s-eye view including expanding investments into areas as varied as drones, banking, and a sound investment in Fortnite maker Epic Games.
“Diversity is key to strengthening our resilience as a group,” Totoki said.
“Diversity in our talent and business are in Sony’s DNA, and I aim to build a future where we can unleash the imagination and creativity of our varied team and enable us to grow as a company and as individuals.”
This changing of the guards came as Sony Group posted a 7.8 per cent drop in quarterly operating profit, down to $4.71 billion, due mainly to its tanking movie division, which suffered from the overall cinema slowdown.
The company increased its full-year earnings forecast, now expecting operating profit for the year ending March to hit A$12.96, up 1.7 per cent from its previous forecast.
Sony has also raised its PlayStation 5 game console sales target by one million units for the year, to 19 million.
