New Sony president wins shareholder approval

Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Kazuo Hirai, the former head of Sony's game division, will steer the struggling Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate's turnaround as the company's new president and chief executive.

Shareholders approved Hirai after a grilling by frustrated investors at an annual meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday. Shareholders demanded to know how the company's past glory was going to be retrieved.

Tokyo-based Sony, once the icon of Japan Inc. with its Walkman portable recorder, sank into a record loss for the fiscal year ended March. Its profitability was battered by the tsunami disaster in 2011, flooding in Thailand, global economic slowdowns and a soaring yen.

Hirai's appointment as president and chief executive, replacing Howard Stringer, was announced in April and up for vote at the shareholder meeting.