Former Sony CEO to retire in June
Howard Stringer, Sony board chairman, who served as president and CEO from 2005 to 2012, is to retire, he announced. Stringer, the first non-Japanese executive to run the consumer electronics giant, said he would step down from his position as board chairman at Sony's annual shareholder meeting in June. The 71-year-old was speaking Friday at a meeting of the Japan Society in New York. "A new world is opening up for me ... one that allows me to complete my plan to retire from Sony, which I expect to do at the conclusion of my term later this year," he said. "That will allow me to move forward with new opportunities I've been presented with lately." Stringer was succeeded by Kazuo Hirai, a games and music veteran, who described a huge overhaul of Sony's business as "urgent", including thousands of job cuts, after it lost 456.66 billion yen in its last fiscal year to March, the fourth year in the red. Sony has forecast a 20 billion yen net profit in the current year to March. Image: © Getty Copyright is owned by Asia Outlook and/or Outlook Publishing. All rights reserved.
Chan: China needs better anti-piracy measures, food safety
Hong Kong movie star Jackie Chan has called for better food safety and a tougher stance on piracy in China. The 58-year-old actor, one of the few Asian stars who have managed to break into Western film markets, said China's poor food safety record could become "a joke that lasts a hundred years". "Every time I'm in China, they (foreigners) will joke about it and ask me 'Can this be eaten? This can't be eaten?' "Even when I go to the US, they'd sit beside me and say 'You can relax and eat it, these are our things'," Chan told Chinese reporters after a meeting of China's top political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's arts sub-group . Chan also expressed concern that the piracy situation in China was getting worse, and believed tougher enforcement could make things better. "The enforcement in China is too lax," he said. "I brought a group of Chinese directors to Zhuhai (a Chinese city). A policeman came over and warned us that smoking is not allowed there. But everyone continued to smoke, including my manager." Image: © Getty Copyright is owned by Asia Outlook and/or Outlook Publishing. All rights reserved.
Sharp in Samsung share sale
In a rare move for a Japanese firm, Sharp has announced a Y10.4 billion deal with South Korean rival Samsung. In a statment, Sharp said it will sell a three percent stake to Samsung that will make the South Korean company Sharp's biggest foreign shareholder. The Japanese firm - which as been trying to restructure its operations amid mounting losses - said the deal would help shore up troubled finances and boost "mutual trust" as the firms look to benefit from Sharp's leading liquid-crystal display (LCD) technology for mobile phones and tablets. Sharp has forecast a record Y450 billion loss in the fiscal year ending March 31 and has been under pressure to find an investor to bolster its capital base. Image: © Getty Copyright is owned by Asia Outlook and/or Outlook Publishing. All rights reserved.
