Howard Stringer, the Welsh-born American head of Japanese games, music and electronics giant Sony, is to step down as the firm's president and CEO.
The company said he would be succeeded by Kazuo Hirai, a games and music veteran at Sony. Stringer will stay on as chairman of the board, a company statement said.
Hirai, 51, played a major role in developing the PlayStation in the 1990s and has spent most of his career at Sony in video games, movies, music and other software businesses.
"As challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position," he said.
The Tokyo-based maker of PlayStation consoles and Bravia television sets is projecting an annual net loss of 90 billion yen ($1.2 billion), its fourth consecutive year in the red, as it reels from the impact of a strong yen, weak sales and severe flooding in Thailand.
