By Daisuke Wakabayashi
After a prolonged slump Sony Corp. is looking good and its shareholders are taking notice.
Sony?s Xperia smartphones are selling well in Japan, gamers are excited about its upcoming PlayStation 4 and, compared with a year ago, the yen is at more comfortable levels for the company?s bottom line. It finally posted an annual net profit for the first time in five years in the fiscal year ended in March.
At its annual shareholder meeting?a less than welcoming event in the last several years when Sony was in the red?Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai was showered with compliments from shareholders for his strong leadership, passion for the company, and for being an ikemen. (Ikemen is Japanese slang combining the Japanese word for ?cool? or ?good? with English word ?men.? It?s used frequently?although not always justifiably so?to label a man as good-looking.)
?I?ve been a longtime fan of Sony and for Sony to have an extremely ikemen CEO, it makes me happy. This is all,? one shareholder, who did not disclose her name, said during the question-and-answer session at the meeting.
Even the usually composed Mr. Hirai failed to contain an ear-to-ear smile. After a momentary pause, he let out a chuckle and thanked the shareholder for her comments, which also included criticism about Sony?s technical support desk not accepting toll-free phone calls from mobile phones or pay phones.
Mr. Hirai is still far from returning Sony back to its former glory. Its electronics business is still losing money, while its brand cache has taken a backseat to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Turning around Sony is a tall task, but Mr. Hirai can take comfort in that, at least, he?ll look good doing it.
Follow Daisuke Wakabayashi on Twitter @daiwaka
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