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.

Sony Computer Entertainment
In August 1995, Hirai joined Sony's computer and video game division, Sony Computer Entertainment America. On November 30, 2006, just under two weeks after the launch of [3], Hirai replaced Ken Kutaragi as President of Sony Computer Entertainment. While maintaining his positions at SCEA, Hirai also became chief operating officer 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), personal computer (VAIO), mobile devices (including Walkman and Xperia) and network service (Sony Entertainment Network, 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. Hirai was speculated to become the successor to Howard Stringer, the current sitting president and CEO of Sony Corporation, 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.