Sony lost chairman of the board and decided to close the smartphone plant in China to cut costs
Due to losses, the company had to close the plant in China and transfer production to Thailand. Kazuo Hirai chairman of the board is retiring after giving 35 years of his life to Sony.
In just one day, Sony received several bleak news at once. First, Kazuo Hirai the chairman of the board of directors left the sony, Second, The Sony decided to close the factory for the production of the smartphone in China.
Goodbye Kazuo!
Kazuo Hirai, who has given away as many as 35 years of his life to Sony, has been finalizing several months and is retiring. The 58-year-old manager had long been thinking about retirement: overcoming the crisis and earning more than one billion dollars for the company, a year ago he resigned as a chief executive officer and president and transferred the board to CFO Kenichiro Yoshida.
He is now chairman of the board of directors, but June 18 is the last day of his work at Sony. Despite his resignation, he will continue to share his experience with colleagues as a senior adviser.
“ After Yoshida-san’s handing over the baton to the CEO last April, I had the opportunity, as Sony’s chairman of the board, to ensure a smooth transition and support the Sony leadership. I am sure that everyone at Sony fully agrees with the strong leadership of Yoshida-san and is ready to build an even brighter future for Sony. So I decided to leave the company, which in the past 35 years has been part of my life”, – stressed Kazuo Hirai.
What about the plant?
At the same time, Sony decided to close its smartphone manufacturing plant in Beijing, the capital of China. Production will be transferred to its own plant in Thailand. It’s all about the losses that the division suffers: now the company takes less than 1% in the smartphone market, significantly lagging behind Chinese competitors. If you close your eyes to the design, which has long been promised to change, Sony smartphones can not boast such a set of advanced technologies like other devices. But the price tag at the same level.
After the closure of the plant, the companies hope to cut costs and return the profit next year. In the meantime, preparing for a loss of 863 million US dollars in the 2018 – 19 fiscal year.
Despite the setbacks, the company is not going to close or sell the smartphone manufacturing unit.
