Masaru Ibuka
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He joined the founding of Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo in May 1946 as Senior Managing Director and became President in May 1950. The company's first products were measuring instruments, but he chose tape recorders as a field the major manufacturers were not pursuing and where its own technology could pay off, succeeding in prototyping magnetic tape and a recorder in 1949. His engineering background shows directly in that choice. Among the top ten shareholders for the period ended October 1955, Morita Goshi ranked first and Akio Morita third, while Ibuka himself ranked only ninth. He was a founder, yet the Morita family held more of the shares.
Selection
The first president was former Education Minister Tamon Maeda; Ibuka ran day-to-day operations as Senior Managing Director for the first four years and became President in May 1950. In the period ended October 1950, the year he took office, sales were ¥90 million and the company had 114 employees, still the scale of a small workshop. That same year it acquired the high-frequency AC bias patent from Anritsu Electric and NEC for ¥250,000 and entered the tape recorder market; the patent remained valid until 1960 and served as a shield that kept three major makers out for a decade. He became president just as the company was committing to the tape recorder alone and moving toward mass production.
Initiatives
On his first trip to the United States in February 1952 he learned of the transistor patent license, and he persuaded a reluctant Ministry of International Trade and Industry to grant approval at the end of January 1954. In August 1955 the company launched Japan's first transistor radio, and in 1957 it marketed the world's first pocketable radio, leading to Akio Morita's move to the United States and exports under its own "SONY" brand. In 1958 it renamed itself Sony and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It did not broaden into a general electrical manufacturer; even after the Chromatron system adopted in 1961 stalled at yields below 10%, it stuck with its own technology and announced Trinitron in April 1968.
Career
Career
Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| May 1946 | Senior Managing Director (at founding) |
| May 1950 | President |
| Jun 1971 | Chairman |
| Jun 1971 | Stepped down as President |
| Jan 1976 | Honorary Chairman |