I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Nobuyuki Idei, former Chairman and CEO of Sony, on June 2 due to liver failure. He was 84 years old.

Idei-san was appointed CEO in 1995. At the time he likened the internet to a meteorite, and warned that if Sony did not change, it would be wiped out by that meteorite in the same way as the dinosaurs. Even now I am amazed by his foresight, in 1995, to declare the dawn of the network era, and for advancing Sony's management on the path to digitalization. After stepping away from Sony he continued to look to future horizons, and I understand that he recently spoke on topics such as the metaverse and Web 3.0.

I had the opportunity of working under Idei-san as General Manager of the CEO Strategy Office from 1998 to 2000. Needless to say, those two years were full of learning, and provided the inspiration for me to challenge myself in a new environment on the front lines of our business at So-net (then Sony Communication Network).

Together with Idei-san, celebrating his 80th birthday in November, 2017

Looking back on that time now, I believe that Idei-san prioritized three areas for Sony's management direction.

1. Strengthening networks
2. Advancement of the entertainment businesses
3. Realigning the Sony Group's management framework by transitioning to a holding company structure

All three are reflected in the Sony of today: The first with the success of PlayStation™Network, the second with our three entertainment businesses (Games, Music and Pictures) growing to represent over half of Sony's consolidated sales, and the third in the realignment of our corporate architecture of April 2021. In many ways I feel that Sony has proceeded along the path to growth envisioned by Idei-san more than 20 years ago.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Idei-san for his foresight and tremendous achievements that paved the way for the Sony Group of today, and I pray that he may rest in peace.