Kazuo "Kaz" Hirai (平井 一夫, Hirai Kazuo; born December 22, 1960) is a Japanese businessman who has served in various positions at Sony Corporation beginning in 1984, including as president and CEO from April 2012 to April 2018 and as chairman from April 2018 to June 2019. Hirai had mostly been involved in Sony's entertainment businesses. He served as a board member of Sony Computer Entertainment and was noted by Entertainment Weekly in 2006 as one of the most powerful executives in the entertainment industry. He led this division between 2007 and 2012 succeeding Ken Kutaragi, before becoming CEO of the Sony group overall succeeding Howard Stringer. Through his tenure as CEO, Sony experienced a resurgence back to profitability and a shift towards entertainment and intellectual property. In 2018, Hirai stepped down as president and CEO to become chairman of Sony Corporation until he retired in June 2019, continuing as a senior adviser to the company until his full retirement in June 2024.
Source: “Kaz Hirai”, English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), excerpt