is a Japanese businessman. He is best known as the former chairman of Sony Corporation, serving from April 2018 to June 2019, as well as president and CEO from April 2012 to April 2018. He also served as a board member of Sony Computer Entertainment and chairman and co-CEO of Sony Entertainment. He was noted by Entertainment Weekly as one of the most powerful executives in the entertainment industry. He led the Sony Computer Entertainment division between 2007 and 2012, and then became president and CEO of Sony in April 2012. Through his tenure as CEO, Sony experienced a resurgence during the 2010s. In 2018, Hirai stepped down as president and CEO, becoming chairman of Sony Corporation. He fully retired from Sony in June 2019, otherwise remaining as a senior adviser to the company. Early life Kazuo Hirai was born on December 22, 1960, in Tokyo, where he attended the American School in Japan. Between 1973 and 1976, Hirai attended Valley Park Middle School in Toronto, Canada. The son of a wealthy banker, Hirai often traveled with his father across the world to California, New York, Canada and around Japan—a trait which Hirai noted to be a major factor in his later multi-continental business success. It was his interest in games that later brought him into the entertainment business. After graduating from the International Christian University in August 1984 with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree, Hirai was hired at CBS/Sony Inc. (now Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.), where he was involved in marketing international music within Japan. He eventually became head of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan's international business affairs office in New York. Career CBS/Sony Inc. Kazuo Hirai began his career with Sony Music Entertainment Japan in 1984, starting out in CBS/Sony Inc.'s (now Sony Music Entertainment Japan) marketing department. Afterwards, he became the head of Sony's international business affairs department. He then moved to Sony Music Japan's New York office, leading the marketing of Sony Music Japan artists in the U.S. Sony Computer Entertainment In August 1995, Hirai joined Sony's computer and video game division, Sony Computer Entertainment America. He was promoted to executive vice president-chief operations officer in July 1996. One year later, in 1997, Hirai was credited on his first completed video game. With the release of the PlayStation 2 in 2000, Kazuo continued his success, utilizing second-party video game franchises such as Jak and Daxter,