New President Kaz Hirai Admits Sony In Serious Trouble

Sony’s new president, Kazuo Hirai, certainly has his work cut out for him. He openly admits that the company is in some dire financial straits, which is reflected by low stock prices and exacerbated by poor performance in recent quarters, and warns that Sony needs to “buckle down and be realistic” in order to turn things around.

Hirai was instrumental in the success of the PlayStation in the United States, with a cross-functional advertising scheme that made sure the PlayStation got noticed outside of normal video gaming or computer fields. He recently admitted that the work he did with PlayStation is nothing compared to the problems that now face him in helming the entirety of Sony:

I thought turning around the PlayStation business was going to be the toughest challenge of my career, but I guess not. It’s one issue after another. I feel like ‘Holy ****, now what?’

He hints at the future direction the company must take by noting that “we can’t just continue to be a great purveyor of hardware products, even though some people expect us to do that.” Sony had recently undertaken some risky hardware endeavors, such as the Vita, which thus far has failed to take off.

Some people believe that Sony once had a chance to become the new Apple, but never quite took advantage of the opportunity. However, there are still those — myself included — to whom the Sony brand means something, and I sincerely hope they are able to overcome this slump. After all, if Apple is any indication, sometimes a period of dire straits is exactly what is needed to transform the business.