Sony’s CEO turned icon around as finance head

Fifteen profit warnings in seven years.

That was the embarrassing pattern Kenichiro Yoshida promised to end after he took over as Sony Corp.’s finance head in 2014. Billion-dollar losses in the famed television business, red ink from personal computers and a smartphone division trying to be all things to all people in the age of the iPhone had the company in a parlous state.

Now, with Sony on track to post record full-year profits this fiscal year, Yoshida’s top priority as the company’s new chief executive officer will be to make sure that a new era of stability endures. He’s replacing Kazuo Hirai, who will assume the chair’s role on April 1. The pair have turned Sony around by bringing accountability to its varied units, emphasized profits over growth and cut loose legacy businesses where it didn’t have an edge.

“Going forward, we are going to play both offence and defence,” Yoshida said at a news conference. “The top companies by market value in the world are technology companies, and as a tech company Sony feels a sense of urgency.”

The results of their efforts were reflected in earnings figures released Friday. Sony lifted its operating profit forecast to a record $6.6 billion for the year ending March, up from the previous forecast of $5.72 billion. For the three months ended December, net income of $2.72 billion was double what analysts estimated, as strong profits in the music division and better sales of high-end TVs made up for slowing growth in games and image sensors.

Yoshida, 58, is highly regarded for bringing financial discipline to Sony after years of losses from consumer electronics. Under their reign, Sony sold off its Vaio personal-computer business, reshaped its TV set unit and focused the mobile business away from a destructive fight for market share. Sony used image sensors and PlayStation games to rebuild the company.

“He knows Sony inside out and is content in playing to his strengths for profitable growth,” said Atul Goyal, an analyst at Jefferies Group.

“Yoshida is very soft-spoken, but in person, you can see that he possesses a fierce intelligence and a clever political mind needed to navigate a large organization like Sony.”