Sony Corp promoted John Kodera as the new head of PlayStation, the electronic giant’s most important division and largest growth driver.
Kodera, who has primarily worked on the PlayStation Network online service, is to take over as CEO at subsidiary Sony Interactive Entertainment, replacing Andrew House, who ran the unit since 2011.
House is to remain as chairman through the end of the year and then pursue what he called “new challenges” outside of Sony, without elaborating in detail.
The appointment comes at a critical time for Sony. Shares are trading close to a nine-year high on expectations games will continue to boost growth, but with the PlayStation 4 heading toward the end of its life cycle, analysts are starting to question what comes next.
Kodera’s efforts to add non-gaming content to the PlayStation Network show that Sony Corp CEO Kazuo Hirai sees the addition of TV shows, movies and music as one way to ease the earnings volatility between console life cycles.
“John Kodera has led Sony’s network service business since 2013 and played a pivotal role in its growth,” Hirai said in a statement. “With the significance of network services increasing across the entire Sony Group, I believe that John is ideally equipped to build on the foundations Andy has left in place.”
Games made up 21 percent of Sony’s total revenue last fiscal year and 36 percent of its operating income.
During the period, the PlayStation Network generated the majority of the games division’s revenue for the first time, as online subscriptions and digital downloads outweighed hardware sales.
Kodera, 47, has worked on the PlayStation Network since 2010, launching TV service Vue, game streaming platform Now and a partnership with Spotify Ltd to bring more non-gaming content to the network’s 70 million users.
Prior to that, he worked in the company’s audio and PC businesses. He joined Sony in 1992.
“I intend to build on the amazing progress Andy has made enhancing the PlayStation brand and expanding the game and network services business, and will strive to further strengthen the unique value proposition we are able to offer via the PlayStation platform,” Kodera said.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS