Howard Stringer
United States of America | |
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Service/ | United States Army |
Years of service | 1965–1967 |
Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
Sir Howard Stringer (born 19 February 1942) is a Welsh-American businessman. He had a 30-year career at CBS, culminating in him serving as the president of CBS News from 1986 to 1988, then president of CBS from 1988 to 1995. He served as chairman of the board, chairman, president and CEO of Sony Corporation from 2005 to 2012.[3] He is also the head of the board of trustees of the American Film Institute and now serves as a non-executive director of the BBC. He was knighted in 1999.
Early life
Stringer was born in Cardiff, Wales, the son of Marjorie Mary (née Pook), a Welsh schoolteacher, and Harry Stringer, a sergeant in the Royal Air Force.[4]
His younger brother, Rob Stringer, was president of Sony Music Label Group.[5]
Stringer attended 11 secondary schools by the time he was 16, including
Career
Stringer moved to the United States in 1965. After working at
Stringer returned to CBS, where he had a 30-year career. He started in a series of lowly jobs, including answering backstage phones for
Tele-TV
Sony
Stringer began work at Sony in May 1997 as president of its US operational unit (Sony Corporation of America). He was made a Sony group executive officer in May 1998.[14]
Since 22 June 2005, he served as Chairman of Sony, overseeing businesses such as
Stringer was promoted to the company's top position as the corporation overall was having trouble with losses and was facing increasing competition from rivals such as Samsung, Sharp, Apple Inc. and Panasonic.[16] With his experience primarily in the media industry, Stringer was responsible for the media business of Sony in the U.S. by overseeing the release of the Spider-Man film series, among others.[18]
As CEO, Stringer's initial focus was on streamlining Sony's electronics business, such as through its Bravia TV joint venture with Samsung.[19] Stringer was instrumental in arranging Sony's investment in Spotify, which earned Sony a profit of nearly $1 billion upon Sony's partial exit in 2018.[20] Nonetheless, Sony's share price fell by 60 per cent from when Stringer assumed the role of group chairman until his resignation as CEO was announced in 2012, due in part to exchange rates and the effects of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.[21]
On 1 February 2012, Sony announced that Stringer would step down as president and CEO, effective 1 April to be replaced by
While serving as the chief of Sony in Tokyo, Stringer maintained a home in New York while his family lived in England.[19]
In a 2014 speech, Stringer expressed his frustrations with his time at Sony, saying, "Running a big company is like running a cemetery: there are thousands of people beneath you, but no one is listening. It was a bit like that at Sony." He specifically lamented that Sony had a "not invented here" mentality that did not suit an increasingly digital world, and which Stringer was unable to shake off.[24]
Awards and honours
Stringer has received the following awards and honours:[6]
- U.S. Army Commendation Medal for meritorious achievement during the Vietnam War
- Radio and Television News Directors Foundation's First Amendment Leadership Award, 1996
- Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, 1996
- UJA-Federation of New York's Steven J. Ross Humanitarian Award, May 1999
- Royal Television Society Welsh Hall of Fame, November 1999
- Queen Elizabeth II, December 1999
- Museum of Television and RadioVisionary Award for Innovative Leadership in Media and Entertainment, February 2007
- Merton College, Oxford honorary fellowship, 2000
- Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama honorary fellowship, 2001
He has also been honoured by Lincoln Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, The New York Hall of Science and The American Theatre Wing, and has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Glamorgan in Wales and University of the Arts London.
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Personal life
In July 1978, String married Jennifer A. Kinmond Patterson.[26][7] They have two children.
He became a naturalised American citizen in 1985.
He was
In popular culture
Stringer was portrayed by Peter Jurasik in the 1996 HBO film The Late Shift, about the conflict between Jay Leno and David Letterman during Stringer's tenure at CBS in the early 1990s.
He appeared on the BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs in 2013.[1]
References
- ^ a b c "BBC Radio 4 – Desert Island Discs, Sir Howard Stringer".
- ^ Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900–1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 535.
- ^ http://www.sony.com/SCA/bios/stringer.shtml, Sony
- ^ Schindehette, Susan (5 April 1993). "Howard Stringer". People. Archived from the original on 10 January 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
- ^ "Sony Music Label Group U.S. gets new chief as top 2 execs resign", USA Today, 1 June 2006
- ^ a b c d "BusinessWeek Executive Profile: Howard Stringer". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
- ^ a b "Howard Stringer Biography (1942–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
- ^ Schindehette, Susan (5 April 1993). "Howard Stringer". People. Archived from the original on 1 July 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- ^ Grifiths, Katherine. "Sir Howard Stringer, US Head Of Sony: Sony's knight buys Tinseltown dream." The Independent, 18 September 2004.
- ^ "The Interview: Howard Stringer." The Independent, 21 March 2005.
- ^ Michael Eisner (28 March 2006). "Sony CEO Howard Stringer transcript". MSNBC.
- ^ a b c Biography for Howard Stringer – IMDb
- ^ "Kicked While It's Down". Time. 6 March 1995.
- ^ The Independent, 18 September 2004
- ^ "Bells may shutter Tele-TV". CNNMoney. 6 December 1996.
- ^ a b Zaun, Todd (23 June 2005). "Sony's Chief Pledges to Halt Company Slide". New York Times. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ^ Suzuki, Hiroshi; Kondo, Masaki (27 February 2009). "Sony's CEO Stringer Ousts Chubachi in Overhaul of Management". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 27 February 2009.
- ^ Siklos, Richard; Fackler, Martin (28 May 2006). "Howard Stringer, Sony's Road Warrior". New York Times. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ^ a b Fackler, Martin (28 May 2006). "Howard Stringer, Sony's Road Warrior". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- ^ "Sony reaps rewards of Stringer legacy with $983m profit on Spotify". Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- ^ Orzeck, Kurt (6 January 2012). "Report: Kaz Hirai to Replace Howard Stringer as Sony President". Reuters. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- ^ "Sony names Kazuo Hirai as President and CEO; Sir Howard Stringer to become Chairman of the Board of Directors". Sony Corporation. 1 February 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Sony chairman Sir Howard Stringer to retire". BBC News. 11 March 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ^ Handel, Jonathan (25 October 2014). "Ex-Sony CEO Howard Stringer on Sony's Failures and Time Inc.'s Big Challenges". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ "Merton College Oxford, benefactors' arms, 2018". Baz Manning. 15 February 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
- ISSN 0028-7369.
External links
- "Howard Stringer biography" – Sony Corporation website
- Appearances on C-SPAN