Akio Morita
26 January 1921 – 3 October 1999
Akio Morita was a Japanese businessman who co-founded Sony with Masaru Ibuka in 1946. He led the company's international expansion, moving to the United States in the 1960s to build its American business, and oversaw products including the Walkman personal stereo. He served as Sony's president and later chairman until ill health forced his retirement in 1994.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Akio Morita.
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Overlapped 78 years →
- Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) Overlapped 78 years →
- Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002) Overlapped 78 years →
- Augusto Pinochet (1915–2006) Overlapped 78 years →
- Bill Hewlett (1913–2001) Overlapped 78 years →
- Chung Ju-yung (1915–2001) Overlapped 78 years →
Life events
Morita was the eldest son of a family that had operated a sake brewery for generations.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe took a degree in physics and was then commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe two worked together in a navy research group, forming the partnership behind their later company.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMorita and Ibuka established the electronics firm in a bombed-out Tokyo department store building.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe firm adopted a short name intended to be pronounceable in export markets.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMorita relocated to New York to learn the American market directly and expand Sony's sales there.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe took the chairmanship and continued to direct the company's global strategy.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe portable cassette player went on sale in Japan and became one of Sony's best-known products.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe purchase of the Hollywood studio extended Sony from hardware into film and television content.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMorita died of pneumonia at the age of 78, having resigned as chairman after a stroke in 1993.
Source: en.wikipedia.org