Ex-Sony man rails against "foreigner" CEO
Stringer blamed for company's troubles.
A former Sony executive has blamed Sony's recent run of poor form on the decision to appoint a foreigner – American Howard Stringer – as the company's CEO.
According to tweets by New York Times journalist Hiroko Tabuchi spotted by Kotaku, ex-Sony Vaio chief Koichiro Tsujino told an audience at a recent seminar that Sony "should never be run by a foreigner."
Tabuchi explained that he, "refuses to elaborate, saying he'll get in trouble. Oh dear."
A later tweet added, "Tsujino did explain a little further: foreigner can't lead Sony back to its founding principles, which is rooted in the Japanese experience."
It's not all Stringer's fault, mind. Tsujino also insisted that Sony was too slow to embrace the online revolution and "was too quick to kill projects that didn't fly right away."
Former CBS president Howard Stringer took over from Nobuyuki Idei in 2005 to become Sony's first non-Japanese chief executive. As well as a sluggish PlayStation 3 launch, Stringer's tenure has also seen Sony's TV business struggle, ceding the number one spot to Samsung.
According to reports last month, Sony is looking to replace Welsh-born Stringer soon, with PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai rumoured to be a frontrunner for the job.