Sony Corp shareholders have formally approved the appointment of Welsh boy Howard Stringer as the head honcho of the whole Sony Group. As previously reported, there was some surprise when the former Sony Music executive was offered the Sony Corp CEO job because few expected the Japanese conglomerate to choose a European to be their leader, but shareholders were reportedly impressed with Stringer's work as head of Sony US, especially his role in the SonyBMG merger and the group's takeover of Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Now formally in the job, Stringer will need to sort out Sony's difficulties in the electronics space where insiders are concerned that they are losing their grip on the portable music player market which, in the pre-iPod era, they tended to dominate with their Walkman brand. That might require the axing of periphery projects in the Sony Group so to maximize efforts on the big earners. On that Stringer told reporters this week: "We cannot fight battles on every front. We have to make choices, and that is why this summer we will get together and decide what the company's priorities ought to be."