It seems that Kaz Hirai will take over the job of Sony president. If that does indeed happen Howard Stringer would maintain his position as chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
The news of Hirai's promotion is being reported by Japanese news service, Nikkei. Nikkei claims that Hirai will take over the role of president by April of this year. Howard Stringer, the current president, chairman, and CEO of the company and he will maintain the chairman and CEO portions of his job title but give up the presidency to Hirai.
Hirai was promoted twice last year, first to Executive Deputy President in April and then again to Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman in September. It doesn't seem particularly surprising considering those two promotions that Hirai would be the one to take over the job of president from Stringer.
Sony issued a statement to Bloomberg telling them that the board had not made an official decision to promote Hirai at this time. It would make sense that the official decision would be made the next time the board convened which could be early next month.
I can't imagine anyone else would end up getting promoted to president before Hirai especially considering his promotions last year and how long he's been with the company. We'll get our official announcement soon but I think this promotion is pretty much in the bag for the 51 year old Sony veteran.
