Andre Yoskowitz
29 Jun 2011 2:49
Sony CEO Howard Stringer came under intense scrutiny at the company's recent shareholder meeting, with the masses demanding he resign after three years straight of mounting losses.
The CEO of course did not resign, but did note that he took a 16 percent pay cut for the fiscal year, down to $4.27 million.
PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai, long expected to be Stringer's eventual successor, explained that the company's top priority is to reverse the losses in its TV business, which has now lost money for seven straight fiscal years with an anticipated eight straight next year. Sony's fiscal year ends on March 30th each year.
Despite taking the pay cut, Stringer was awarded about $3.5 million worth of Sony stock options, as his usual bonus.
The company posted a loss of $3.21 billion for the most recent fiscal year, mainly due to the tsunami and earthquake disaster in Japan in March. The hacker attacks on the PSN also cost the company $170 million, mainly thanks to security updates and compensation packages it offered afterwards. It is unclear how much revenue they lost in the weeks the service was forced offline.
Hirai explained (via WSJ) that the turnaround in the TV business would be similar to how he stopped the bleeding in the PlayStation division, with "aggressive cost reductions with parts procurement and more efficient operations as well as overhauling the company's geographic and product strategies."