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Sony in transition: a new CEO drives the storied company back into profit

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Kazuo Hirai took control of the once mighty Sony in April 2012. His first order of business was the unenviable task of turning around a company that hadn't posted a profit in four years under the weight of a strong yen and a poor performing television business. Outgoing CEO Howard Stringer claimed that Sony would have been profitable had it not been for a series of unfortunate natural disasters in 2011 that saw the company suffer multi-billion-dollar losses. Hirai quickly outlined his vision for a more united "one Sony," and in early 2013 the company posted its first profit in half a decade.