Sir Howard Stringer (born 19 February 1942) is a Welsh-American businessman. He had a 30-year career at CBS, culminating in him serving as the president of

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

from 1986 to 1988, then president of CBS from 1988 to 1995. He served as chairman of the board, chairman, president and CEO of

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Corporation from 2005 to 2012. He is also the head of the board of trustees of the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

and now serves as a non-executive director of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. He was knighted in 1999.

Early life

Stringer was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales, the son of Marjorie Mary (née Pook), a Welsh schoolteacher, and Harry Stringer, a sergeant in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. His younger brother,

Rob Stringer Robert Adrian Stringer (born 13 August 1962) is a British Music Executive, music industry executive. He has served as the chairman of Sony Music Group and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment since 2017. He is also a Director (business), director of ...

, was president of

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

Label Group. Stringer attended 11 secondary schools by the time he was 16, including Oundle School in Northamptonshire. He received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Modern History The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...

Career

Stringer moved to the United States in 1965. After working at CBS's flagship station

WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS New York, is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–lic ...

for six weeks, he was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, and served as a military policeman in

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

for ten months in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. He did not serve in combat, but was awarded the

Army Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issu ...

for meritorious achievement. Stringer returned to CBS, where he had a 30-year career. He started in a series of lowly jobs, including answering backstage phones for ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

''. In 1976, he became executive producer of the documentary series '' CBS Reports''.Biography for Howard Stringer
–

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

Then, from 1981 to 1984, he was executive producer of the '' CBS Evening News with Dan Rather''. In 1986, he became president of

as a whole. He then served as president of CBS from 1988 to 1995, where he was responsible for all the broadcast activities of its entertainment, news, sports, radio and television stations. During Stringer's tenure, CBS gained the services of

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...

with his '' Late Show'' but also lost

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

rights to the upstart

Fox Broadcasting Company Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an Television in the United States, American commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast television broadcaster, television network serving as the flagship proper ...

, leading several CBS affiliates to align with the latter.

Tele-TV

Stringer left CBS in 1995 to become CEO of Tele-TV, a newly created media and technology company formed by US telecoms

Bell Atlantic A bell Help:IPA/English, /ˈbɛl/ () is a struck idiophone, directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficien ...

, NYNEX and Pacific Telesis, as well as Creative Artists Agency. Tele-TV represented an early attempt at a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

service, which streamed content over the phone network. The company was unsuccessful, and shut down most of its operations in early 1997, after having spent roughly $500 million. Stringer left at that time.Griffiths, Katherine.
Sir Howard Stringer, US Head Of Sony: Sony's knight buys Tinseltown dream.
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 18 September 2004

Sony

Stringer began work at Sony in May 1997 as president of its US operational unit ( Sony Corporation of America). He was made a Sony group executive officer in May 1998. Since 22 June 2005, Stringer has served as Chairman of Sony, overseeing businesses such as

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

, Sony Electronics,

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

and Sony Financial Holdings, succeeding Nobuyuki Idei. On 1 April 2009, he became president of Sony Corporation and ousted Ryoji Chubachi in what was seen as prelude to broader corporate restructuring. Stringer also served as executive chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Corporation of America, and as president of Sony Broadband Entertainment Corporation since March 2000. Stringer was promoted to the company's top position as the corporation overall was having trouble with losses and was facing increasing competition from rivals such as

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

, Sharp,

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

and

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

. With his experience primarily in the media industry, Stringer was responsible for the media business of Sony in the U.S. by overseeing the release of the

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

film series, among others. As CEO, Stringer's initial focus was on streamlining Sony's electronics business, such as through its Bravia TV joint venture with

. Stringer was instrumental in arranging Sony's investment in

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

, which earned Sony a profit of nearly $1 billion upon Sony's partial exit in 2018. Nonetheless, Sony's share price fell by 60 per cent from when Stringer assumed the role of group chairman until his resignation as CEO was announced in 2012, due in part to exchange rates and the effects of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. On 1 February 2012, Sony announced that Stringer would step down as president and CEO, effective 1 April to be replaced by

Kazuo Hirai is a Japanese businessman. He is best known as the former chairman of Sony Corporation, serving from April 2018 to June 2019, as well as president and CEO from April 2012 to April 2018. He also served as a board member of Sony Computer Entertain ...

, executive deputy president and chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment. Stringer relinquished his title of chairman of Sony and became chairman of the board of Sony in June ('Chairman of Sony' and 'Chairman of the Board of Directors' are separate positions at Sony). In June 2013, Stringer retired as chairman of the board of Sony. While serving as the chief of Sony in Tokyo, Stringer maintained a home in New York while his family lived in England. In a 2014 speech, Stringer expressed his frustrations with his time at Sony, saying, "Running a big company is like running a cemetery: there are thousands of people beneath you, but no one is listening. It was a bit like that at Sony." He specifically lamented that Sony had a " not invented here" mentality that did not suit an increasingly digital world, and which Stringer was unable to shake off.

Awards and honours

Stringer has received the following awards and honours: * U.S. Army Commendation Medal for meritorious achievement during the

* Radio and Television News Directors Foundation's First Amendment Leadership Award, 1996 * ''

Broadcasting & Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (''B&C'', or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') was a telecommunications industry monthly trade magazine and, later, news website published by Future US. Founded in 1931 as ''Broadcasting'', subsequent mergers, acquisitions and ...

'' Hall of Fame, 1996 * UJA-Federation of New York's Steven J. Ross Humanitarian Award, May 1999 *

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Welsh Hall of Fame, November 1999 *

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

, from Her Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, December 1999 * Museum of Television and Radio Visionary Award for Innovative Leadership in Media and Entertainment, February 2007 *

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

honorary fellowship, 2000 * Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama honorary fellowship, 2001 He has also been honoured by Lincoln Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, The New York Hall of Science and The American Theatre Wing, and has received Honorary Doctorates from the

University of Glamorgan The University of Glamorgan () was a public university based in South Wales, that merged with University of Wales, Newport to form the University of South Wales in April 2013. The university was based in Pontypridd, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, with ...

in Wales and

University of the Arts London The University of the Arts London is a public collegiate university in London, England, United Kingdom. It specialises in arts, design, fashion, and the performing arts. The university is a federation of six arts colleges: Camberwell College of ...

Personal life

In July 1978, Stringer married Jennifer A. Kinmond Patterson. They have two children. He became a naturalised American citizen in 1985. He was knighted by

on 31 December 1999.

In popular culture

Stringer was portrayed by Peter Jurasik in the 1996

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

film '' The Late Shift'', about the conflict between

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

and

during Stringer's tenure at CBS in the early 1990s. He appeared on the BBC radio programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

'' in 2013.

References

External links

"Howard Stringer biography"
– Sony Corporation website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stringer, Howard 1942 births Living people Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Alumni of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama American chief executives American male journalists American military police officers United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War American television producers Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Paramount Global people Knights Bachelor People educated at Oundle School Businesspeople from Cardiff Sony people Welsh emigrants to the United States International Emmy Founders Award winners British chairpersons of corporations British chief executives Presidents of CBS News United States Army soldiers Fellows of Merton College, Oxford