REPORT: SONY’S STRINGER TO NAME NEW SECOND-IN-COMMAND

Sony Corp. is planning to create a new office of the president, a position discontinued when Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer ousted the former president, Ryoji Chubachi in 2009, Bloomberg news reported today, citing people familiar with the matter. Chubachi had been considered part of the old guard at Sony, executives who, in particular, had failed to keep the company at the forefront of the consumer electronics business with innovative new products. Appointing a new second-in-command, Bloomberg observed, would give Stringer “a deputy to lighten his work and travel load and offer the designee a chance to prove their mettle as Sony sets its long-term plans.” In recent months Sony has been introducing Internet-connected television sets, 3-D TV sets, and its Sony Pictures division had its highest grossing year in 2009.