Akio Morita

Akio Morita (盛田 昭夫 1921-1999) was the co-founder of Sony Corporation.

Morita was an officer in the Japanese navy during World War 2, and was trained as a physicist and scientist. His family was involved in sake production. Morita founded a company with Masaru Ibuka immediately after the end of the war. In 1949 the company developed magnetic recording tape and in 1950 sold the first tape recorder in Japan. In 1957 it produced a pocket-sized radio and a year later renamed itself Sony (sonus is Latin for sound). In 1960 it produced the first transistor television in the world.

In 1961 Sony Corporation of America was the first Japanese company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1989 Sony bought Columbia Pictures.

On November 25, 1994, Morita announced his resignation as Sony chairman, after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage while playing tennis.

External link

• Time magazine profile
• Biographical notes
• Morita, Akio. "Made in Japan", New York: Dutton, 1986.