By Cho Mu-hyun
Sony said it has replaced the head of its Korean operation and that the new appointee will take over the top seat from August 1.
In a statement, Sony Korea announced that outgoing CEO Kimihiro Itoki offered to resign from the post for ``personal reasons’’ and that Kenji Sakai will be his replacement.
It is quite rare for Sony to replace a manager in a country before a year-end annual management reshuffle. Hong Ji-eun, a spokeswoman for Sony Korea, declined to unveil more details surrounding the replacement.
``Mr. Itoki has offered to step down from the top position for personal reasons,’’ the statement said. ``Mr. Sakai has been a deputy president for the company’s global sales division and is known to have a strong interest in Korea.’’
Sakai, who joined Sony in April 1982, has mostly worked in global marketing throughout his thirty years career.
He was the product manager for Sony’s famous audio products during its heyday and has headed the company’s offices in Philippines and Taiwan, and worked in the area management division in the company’s headquarters as well.
Sony recently launched its new compact high-end camera DSC-RX100 and are aggressively pursuing the domestic market and showing noticeable progresses.
Sony Korea is making a dent in the digital imaging businesses, and has secured over a 30 percent market share in mirror-less interchangeable-lens cameras, according to the company.
The outgoing CEO Itoki was given two performance awards given by the company headquarters for his efforts as the chief executive of Sony Vietnam and Korea.
Itoki was appointed to head the Korean subsidiary in 2010, July and market revenues of over trillion won for two consecutive years, and was deemed by many as a talented entrepreneur, said Hong.
“Mr. Itoki stressed the importance of Sony DNA here and has tried to introduce a more open corporate culture through smart office and routine dinner meetings.”