Former Sony CEO Howard Stringer will retire this summer

Former Sony president and CEO Howard Stringer will fully retire from the company this summer, to pursue other opportunities. Kazuo Hirai took over the role of president and CEO of Sony from Stringer just over a year ago, while Stringer was named Chairman of Sony's board of directors. The industry veteran has now said that he will step down from his chairman role in June, during a speech he gave at the Japan Society in New York, as reported by Bloomberg. Yasuo Nakane, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG, told Bloomberg that the news is positive for Sony, noting, "Considering the poor earnings result last year, he should have stepped down even earlier. His departure means Sony has completed the transition to a new management team." A replacement chairman will be named after Sony's June shareholder meeting. Stringer said that he has new opportunities to tackle following his retirement from Sony, although he did not provide details as to what these entail.