Kenichiro Yoshida
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He joined Sony in April 1983, moved to Sony Network Communications in July 2000 and served as its president from April 2005. He returned to the parent company in December 2013, rising from EVP and CSO to Representative Corporate Executive Officer, EVP and CFO in April 2014, and to Representative Corporate Executive Officer, Executive Deputy President and CFO in April 2015. From September 2000 he also served as an outside director of M3. He reached the center of the company by running an internet business and group finance, a path separate from product development.
Selection
In April 2018 he succeeded Kazuo Hirai as President and CEO. In the fiscal year ended March 2018, the year before he took office, consolidated operating income rose 2.5-fold to ¥734.9 billion, a record high for the first time in 20 years, since the fiscal year ended March 1998. It was a handover after the crisis had passed, and appears to have entrusted the design of the next phase of growth to the man who, as CFO, had supported the financial side of restructuring.
Initiatives
He shifted management away from reliance on the founders' pull toward unity around a shared statement of purpose. In 2020 Sony acquired all common shares and stock acquisition rights of its listed subsidiary Sony Financial Holdings for ¥396.7 billion, making it wholly owned, and in April 2021 it renamed itself Sony Group and moved electronics into the newly established Sony Corporation. In September 2019 he rejected, in a letter to shareholders, a proposal from the U.S. fund Third Point to separate the semiconductor business. In September 2022 Sony established Sony Honda Mobility as a 50-50 joint venture with Honda Motor.
Career
Career
Sony Group
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Apr 1983 | Joined |
| Dec 2013 | Corporate Executive Officer, EVP, CSO |
| Apr 2014 | Representative Corporate Executive Officer, EVP, CFO |
| Jun 2014 | Director |
| Apr 2015 | Representative Corporate Executive Officer, Executive Deputy President and CFO |
| Apr 2018 | Representative Corporate Executive Officer, President and CEO |
| Jun 2020 | Representative Corporate Executive Officer, Chairman and President, CEO |
| Apr 2023 | Stepped down as President |
| Apr 2025 | Representative Corporate Executive Officer, Chairman |
Sony Network Communications
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Jul 2000 | Joined |
| May 2001 | Executive Officer |
| Apr 2005 | Representative Director, Executive Officer, President |
M3
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Sep 2000 | Outside Director |