Sir Howard Stringer is the first non-Japanese to run Sony (SNE) and putting him into the job was probably a mistake. He was promoted to “re-invent” the company. Instead, he has done what most chief executives without imagination do by cutting thousands of jobs.
The cost reductions did not keep Sony from losing $1 billion in the fiscal year that ended on March 31. Sony forecast another loss for this year.
Stringer’s failure falls into two parts. He has not gotten Sony’s world-renowned engineering staff to introduce a single successful mass market consumer electronics product. Competitors including Apple (AAPL) have outflanked the Japanese company at every turn.
Stringer has also not done anything to break into pieces a company which has several unrelated parts. The firm’s large movie studio does not support the businesses of making TV screens or video games. The content operation should be part of one of the media conglomerates such as Viacom (VIA) or Time Warner (TWX). The billions of dollars that would come from auctioning it off would at least pump up the Sony balance sheet and give investors some hope that the company will not continue to drift into the rapids.
Stringer has had his chance. It is someone else’s turn.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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