Sony Group Corp is appointing Hiroki Totoki. 60, as chief executive officer, a stamp of approval for the longtime finance chief’s push to expand the Japanese company’s entertainment reach.
Along with outgoing CEO Kenichiro Yoshida, Totoki helped steer the Tokyo-based technology conglomerate to focus on growing its entertainment offerings. Last year alone, the company expressed interest in potential acquisitions ranging from Paramount Global to domestic publishing house Kadokawa Corp.
That focus on content — which spans PlayStation games, anime, music and movies — is bolstering revenue and profit at Sony. In the September quarter, operating profit grew 76 percent year-on-year amid sluggish demand for its smartphone components and image sensors, used by the likes of Apple Inc and Xiaomi Corp (小米).
Photo: Reuters
Yoshida is to remain as chairman of the board, Sony said in a statement yesterday.
Hideaki Nishino is to take charge of the company’s pivotal game and network services business, while Hermen Hulst is newly appointed as CEO of the game studio business. The moves, all effective April 1, are part of a new management structure intended to secure Sony’s long-term growth, the company said.
Totoki had taken up more of the leadership burden at Tokyo-based Sony two years prior, when he added the titles of president and chief operating officer to his role as chief financial officer. He provides Sony’s commentary on conference calls after earnings each quarter and has steered the company through a difficult time with prolonged supply shortages of its flagship PlayStation 5 console.
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
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