Sony announces shifts at the top

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TOKYO, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Japanese electronics giant Sony said it had chosen a new president and chief executive from inside the company.

The firm said Kazuo Hirai, who heads the company's PlayStation business, would be its next top executive.

Howard Stringer, the U.S. citizen that now heads the company, would shift jobs, becoming the firm's board chairman in June, Sony said in a statement.

Sony's current chairman, Yotaro Kobayashi, is set to retire in June.

The board changes are expected to be approved at the company's June shareholders meeting. At that point, Hirai is also expected to join the board.

"Three years ago, I started to work with the board on succession plans, and in February, 2009 we named a new generation of leaders to be my management team. Among them was Kaz Hirai, who had distinguished himself through his work in the PlayStation," Stringer said.

"Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature," he said.