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Hirai to favored be next CEO of Sony.

The man who basically made a internet meme of himself at E3 back in 2006(you don't remember? here's a hint: "Riiiiiiiiidge Raceeeeeeeeeeeer!"), Kaz Hiraiis likely to be the next in line for Sony CEO, replacing Ken Kutaragi. Seen here on this Joystiq article, it's being reported that a corporate realignment will have Mr. Hirai be named as an "executive deputy president". In addition to the realignment, he will be heading up Sony's consumer products unit, one of two core post-realignment groups for the corporation.

Hirai won't take his office at Sony until the first of April (and no, it's not an April Fool's joke) andhe is far from having full CEO power. The board of Sony have been talking about succession planning and promoting Hirai is only part of their first step of many. Also noted is that Hirai faces some competition for the full position fromHiroshi Yoshioka, who will be heading up Sony's other core division which covers business to business areas like batteries.

Frankly in this blogger's opinion I hope Mr. Hirai does get the full CEO position. Because frankly, Sony's main revenue generator is consumer products like televisions and Playstation 3 consoles. While Sony has a lot of interest in business areas that deal with semiconductors and such, everyone associates Sony with one thing: high qualityentertainment. Also, I could imagine seeing Kaz start all meetings with "RIDGEEEEEEE RACERRRRRRRRRRR!"

~Written by Evil Ambassador Copiozo