Hirai: Sony could be facing "serious trouble"

Incoming Sony CEO Kaz Hirai has admitted the ailing electronics manufacturer needs to turn things around quickly or it could face serious problems.

Speaking in an interview with The Wall Street Journal ahead of the company's troubling quarterly financial report yesterday, Hirai said that returning Sony to profit will be the biggest challenge he's faced in his career to date.

"I thought turning around the PlayStation business was going to be the toughest challenge of my career, but I guess not," he said.

"It's one issue after another. I feel like 'Holy s***, now what?'"

His strategy for recovery includes instructing staff to stop resting on past glories and start selling customers a superior "user experience".

"We really need to buckle down and be realistic. I don't think everybody is on board, but I think people are coming around to the idea that if we don't turn this around, we could be sitting in some serious trouble."

Earlier this week Sony announced an enormous £1.3 billion loss for the last financial quarter and expects to report a loss of $2.9 billion for the full year. That will be its fourth consecutive year in the red.

The poor performance was blamed on floods in Thailand disrupting the supply chain, the "deterioration in market conditions in developed countries" and "unfavourable foreign exchange".

Former PlayStation boss Hirai formally takes over from current Sony CEO Howard Stringer on 1st April.