Sony's president to step down, CEO Stringer to remain under new management TOKYO (AP) -- Embattled Sony Corp. said Friday that Ryoji Chubachi was stepping down as president, adding to the string of Japanese companies hoping to fight the global slowdown with renewed leadership.

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Howard Stringer, chairman and chief executive, will stay on, adding the presidency as another title after Chubachi steps down April 1. Stringer said the change underlined Sony's commitment to becoming more competitive and rebuilding its image as a technological pioneer.

"This reorganization is designed to transform Sony into a more innovative, integrated and agile global company with its next generation of leadership firmly in place," Stringer said in a statement.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment company, which has been battered by the global slump and the strong yen, is projecting its first annual net loss in 14 years.

Chubachi, 61, oversees Sony's core electronics sector, at the center of the unfolding economic woes at one of Japan's most famous manufacturers. He became president in 2005, when Welsh-born American Stringer, 67, became the first foreigner to head Sony. Chubachi will remain on the board as vice chairman, overseeing quality, safety and environmental policies.

"I look forward to supporting the new management team," Chubachi said.

Among other changes was the appointment of Kazuo Hirai, the chief of Sony Computer Entertainment, the gaming unit, as head of the Internet-linking products and services group.

The management reshuffle sent a good message about Sony's commitment to speedy, decisive leadership under Stringer, said Nobuo Kurahashi, analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities in Tokyo.

"It a positive sign of how Sony is frantically moving forward toward change, including structural changes especially in its TV and other electronics businesses," he said.

Kurahashi was quick to add that times were hard -- for any company -- amid the global slowdown, and so the future was still uncertain for Sony.

But he said Stringer, being non-Japanese, may be able to deliver quicker decisions than a typical Japanese manager, who may tend to be more bureaucratic and seek group consensus.

Both Chubachi and Stringer had promised a dramatic turnaround at Sony, the maker of Bravia flat-panel televisions, PlayStation 3 game machine and Cyber-shot digital cameras.

But the global slowdown -- hitting during the key year-end shopping season -- and the surging yen, which erodes foreign earnings, have proved too much. Sony is particularly vulnerable to overseas demand because exports make up about 80 percent of its sales.

Sony is expecting a 150 billion yen net loss for the fiscal year through March. That's a reversal from a net profit of 369.4 billion yen the previous year.

The last -- and only -- time Sony reported a loss, for the fiscal year ending March 1995, the red ink came from one-time losses in its movie division, marred by box office flops and lax cost controls.

The latest projection underlines the serious problems at its electronics division, where Sony has in recent years lost out to rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. and Sharp Corp. in flat-panel TVs, and even in Walkman equivalents to Apple Inc.'s iPod.

Sony has already said it is slashing 8,000 of its 185,000 jobs around the world and shutter five or six plants -- about 10 percent of its 57 factories. It is also trimming another 8,000 temporary workers who aren't included in the global work force tally.

There had been some speculation that Sony executives will be stepping down to give the company a fresh start.

Other major Japanese corporations have announced leadership changes as the economy contracts.

Toyota Motor Corp., which is forecasting its first annual net loss since 1950, has tapped Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the founder, as the new president.

Earlier this week, Honda Motor Co. chose Takanobu Ito, an engineer who built his career in research and development, as its new president and chief executive, to furnish the leadership in technological innovation, Honda's longtime strength.

Stringer, who has acknowledged he had not gone far enough with cost cuts and efforts to combine entertainment with electronics, promised better times for Sony.

He said the various parts of the company's sprawling businesses, which include movies and music, as well as gadgets, need to work better with each other.

The TV, digital imaging, home audio and video businesses will come together in a new consumer products group, he said, to boost profitability and growth by being faster with new products, according to Sony.

"The changes we're announcing today will accelerate the transformation of the company that began four years ago," Stringer said. "They will now make it possible for all of Sony's parts to work together to assume a position of worldwide leadership."