Enforcer who turned Sony around with painful cuts |
- Enforcer who turned Sony around with painful cuts
- Apple in the right step, begins health tech revolution in top hospitals
- Britney-Iggy duet on the cards? (VIDEO)
- Tinder Plus to come with ‘Bouncer’, protects users from spam, improper use of app
- Olympic champion Bolt to open 2015 season on Valentine’s Day
| Enforcer who turned Sony around with painful cuts Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:13 PM PST
Four months later, Kenichiro Yoshida went from relative obscurity to become the CEO's right-hand man and chief financial officer. The 55-year-old has used the mandate to cut jobs, sell off Sony's iconic Vaio personal-computer business, spin out its TV set unit and rein in the company's destructive market share ambitions in smartphones. "He started the most important thing that Japanese companies cannot do — exit," said Atul Goyal, a Singapore-based analyst at Jefferies Group LLC whose buy rating has delivered an 85 per cent return to investors in the past year. "If you remove Yoshida, this stock is no longer a buy. It's probably a sell." Yoshida's focus on restructuring, including the US$1.5 billion (RM5.31b) writedown of its smartphone business, has cut costs and stemmed losses in consumer electronics. That has helped restore credibility with investors for a company that lowered its earnings outlook 15 times in the past seven years. Sony rose 2.5 per cent as of 9.10am in Tokyo. The shares climbed as much as 18 per cent in Tokyo yesterday, the biggest jump on record dating back to 1974, after the company reversed its forecast for a full-year operating loss. Hirai is shifting away from consumer electronics by focusing on image sensors, gaming and media content to rebuild earnings growth. Emergency surgery The stock has surged 29 per cent this year, with the benchmark Topix index gaining just one per cent, even as Sony deals with the fallout of a crippling computer hack on its Hollywood studio. Sony Pictures Entertainment said yesterday that Amy Pascal, whose e-mailed jokes about US President Barack Obama became public in the cyber-attack, will step down in May as co- chairman and head of its motion picture group. Yoshida, who likened restructuring to emergency surgery, plans to transform Sony into a company capable of generating a 400 billion yen (RM12.06b) profit. He also wants more accountability. "Our reforms spared no sacred cows, whether at the main company or its units, and now you're beginning to see the results," Yoshida said Wednesday in Tokyo after announcing the company's most profitable quarter in seven years. "We have an accountability to the outside world, something that we still need to work on, but the idea is beginning to sink in." Asset sales Yoshida, a 30-year Sony veteran, spent much of his career outside the company's core electronics operations, including stints in the US, the finance division and investor relations. From 2000 to 2013, he mostly worked for So-net, rising to the head of the unit in 2005 and taking it public. When he was tapped to rejoin the head office as chief strategy officer and deputy CFO in December 2013, Sony praised Yoshida's successes in developing the network, communication and media businesses. Since being promoted, he has tried to get Sony to break from its past, when it would hang onto businesses even after market share and earnings slumped. The TV unit has lost more than 700 billion yen during the past decade. Yoshida wasn't available to comment yesterday, said George Boyd, a Tokyo-based spokesman. Yoshida sees last year's sale of the Vaio unit as a turning point, with the company exiting a business getting squeezed by other PC makers and the rise of tablet computers. Segment forecasts "Withdrawing from the PC business was a major event that led to a change in mindset at Sony," Yoshida said Wednesday. He also departed from some of the normal practices in Japan's staid corporate culture. Just a month after becoming CFO, Yoshida criticised predecessors for failing to change Sony as the electronics industry changed. He also began giving forecasts for specific sales and profit targets at individual segments, making businesses that span games, movies, music and devices accountable to investors as well as management. When it became clear the mobile-phone unit was missing targets, Hirai replaced its head with Hiroki Totoki, Yoshida's lieutenant since the So-net days. Phone writedown "Yoshida gives an impression of a person who can execute," said Kazuyuki Terao, Tokyo-based chief investment officer of Allianz Global Investors Japan Co. "He doesn't just talk, but gets things done, and the numbers begin to show that." The smartphone writedown was an overdue move to recognize that earlier ambitions needed to be brought back to reality as Sony models struggled to compete with those from Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc. The company once targeted becoming the biggest supplier of smartphones using Google Inc.'s Android software. It's not even in the top five and is now cutting models for China, eliminating 2,100 jobs and narrowing its focus to markets where it can grow. "Yoshida has shown the understanding of what needs to be done, as well as the ability and willingness, but the question has been does he actually have the power," Goyal said. "The answer came with the very painful writedown in the mobile-phones business. He does have the power to change." With an operating profit predicted for this year and the company expecting 400 billion yen in earnings next year, some analysts expect Sony may finally be turning the corner to growth. Of the 24 analysts tracked by Bloomberg, 16 recommend buying the stock and only two suggest sell. Junya Ayada, an analyst at Daiwa Securities Group Inc., expects Sony to set a target for record operating profit of 550 billion yen to 600 billion yen in fiscal 2017 when it unveils its medium-term business plan on Feb. 18. His buy rating is tied for first in the Bloomberg Absolute Return Rank, which grades analyst calls that lead to the best gains for investors. "Prospects are taking shape for a Sony revival, and we now think attention should shift forward to the company's growth potential," Ayada said in a Feb 4 report. — Bloomberg   |
| Apple in the right step, begins health tech revolution in top hospitals Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:13 PM PST
Fifteen of 23 top hospitals contacted by Reuters said they have rolled out a pilot program of Apple's HealthKit service — which acts as a repository for patient-generated health information like blood pressure, weight or heart rate — or are in talks to do so. The pilots aim to help physicians monitor patients with such chronic conditions as diabetes and hypertension. Apple rivals Google Inc and Samsung Electronics, which have released similar services, are only just starting to reach out to hospitals and other medical partners. Such systems hold the promise of allowing doctors to watch for early signs of trouble and intervene before a medical problem becomes acute. That could help hospitals avoid repeat admissions, for which they are penalized under new US government guidelines, all at a relatively low cost. The US healthcare market is US$3 trillion (RM10.63 trillion), and researcher IDC Health Insights predicts that 70 per cent of healthcare organisations worldwide will invest by 2018 in technology including apps, wearables, remote monitoring and virtual care. Those trying out Apple's service included at least eight of the 17 hospitals on one list ranking the best hospitals, the US News & World Report's Honour Roll. Google and Samsung had started discussions with just a few of these hospitals. Apple's HealthKit works by gathering data from sources such as glucose measurement tools, food and exercise-tracking apps and Wi-fi connected scales. The company's Apple Watch, due for release in April, promises to add to the range of possible data, which with patients' consent can be sent to an electronic medical record for doctors to view. "Timing right" Ochsner Medical Centre in New Orleans has been working with Apple and Epic Systems, Ochsner's medical records vendor, to roll out a pilot program for high-risk patients. The team is already tracking several hundred patients who are struggling to control their blood pressure. The devices measure blood pressure and other statistics and send it to Apple phones and tablets. "If we had more data, like daily weights, we could give the patient a call before they need to be hospitalized," said Chief Clinical Transformation Officer Dr. Richard Milani. Sumit Rana, chief technology officer at Epic Systems, said the timing was right for mobile health tech to take off. "We didn't have smartphones ten years ago; or an explosion of new sensors and devices," Rana said. Apple has said that over 600 developers are integrating HealthKit into their health and fitness apps. Many of the hospitals told Reuters they were eager to try pilots of the Google Fit service, since Google's Android software powers most smartphones. Google said it has several developer partners on board for Fit, which connects to apps and devices, but did not comment on its outreach to hospitals. Samsung said it is working with Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital to develop mobile health technology. The firm also has a relationship with the University of California's San Francisco Medical Centre. Apple's move into mobile health tech comes as the Affordable Care Act and other healthcare reform efforts aim to provide incentives for doctors to keep patients healthy. The aim is to move away from the "fee for service" model, which has tended to reward doctors for pricey procedures rather than for outcomes. Still, hospitals must decide whether the difficulty of sorting through a deluge of patient-generated data of varying quality is worth the investment. "This is a whole new data source that we don't understand the integrity of yet," said William Hanson, chief medical information officer at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. First steps Apple has recruited informal industry advisors, including Rana and John Halamka, chief information officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and Harvard Medical School, to discuss health data privacy and for introductions to the industry. The company said it had an "incredible team" of experts in health and fitness and was talking to medical institutions, healthcare and industry experts on ways to deliver its services. A few hospitals are also exploring how to manage the data that is flowing in from health and fitness-concerned patients, whom many in Silicon Valley refer to as the "worried well." Beth Israel's Halamka said that many of the 250,000 patients in his system had data from sources such as Jawbone's Up activity tracker and wirelessly connected scales. "Can I interface to every possible device that every patient uses? No. But Apple can," he said. Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles is developing visual dashboards to present patient-generated data to doctors in an easy-to-digest manner. Experts say that there will eventually be a need for common standards to ensure that data can be gathered from both Apple's system and its competitors. "How do we get Apple to work with Samsung? I think it will be a problem eventually," said Brian Carter, a director focused on personal and population health at Cerner, an electronic medical record vendor that is integrated with HealthKit. — Reuters  |
| Britney-Iggy duet on the cards? (VIDEO) Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:10 PM PST LOS ANGELES, Feb 6 ― Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea have sent fans into a frenzy with their duet plans. Iggy is also gearing up for the IHeartRadio awards, where she has received five nominations. Meanwhile Beyoncé is embarking on a new foodie venture. ― Cover Media
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| Tinder Plus to come with ‘Bouncer’, protects users from spam, improper use of app Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:09 PM PST
Known as the "Bouncer" to Tinder's insiders, it's intended to prevent spam and to limit improper use of the app, TechCrunch reports. A small percentage of Tinder's users swipe right — which is Tinder-speak for declaring one's cyber-affection — on nearly every user they encounter and may trigger the Bouncer, say Tinder execs. Yet regular users aren't expected to encounter the Bouncer, which works by imposing a pay wall to limit the number of times a user can "like" if they use the app in inappropriate ways, determined by an algorithm. Spammers and bots, they say, won't find it worth the money to pay for multiple premium accounts. Tinder Plus is expected to give users the option to change their mind after liking someone and undo the gesture. Users will be given the option of paying for premium features including "Passport," which allows you to search for that special someone anywhere in the world. — AFP/Relaxnews  |
| Olympic champion Bolt to open 2015 season on Valentine’s Day Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:06 PM PST
Bolt will compete at the meeting at Jamaica's National Stadium, organised by his personal coach Glen Mills, for the first time in years as he aims to make a solid start to a season highlighted by the August 22-30 World Championships in Beijing. Bolt anchored Jamaica to gold in the 4x100m relay at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last year, but he missed much of the season, officially bringing his abbreviated 2014 campaign to a close in August after racing just four times. He did set a world best for the rarely run indoor 100m with a time of 9.98sec at a meeting in Warsaw. The 28-year-old, who holds the world records in the 100m and 200m, said earlier this year his early season race schedule would include more quarter-mile races and he is aiming to break his personal best of 45.28sec over the one-lap distance set in 2007. — AFP  |
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