Sony Chairman Howard Stringer to retire in June

After having led Sony's board of directors for a year, former CEO Howard Stringer has announced that he will retire from the company in June, the Financial Times reported.

Stringer had his role with Sony increasingly minimized over the last few years. After serving as CEO from 2005 to 2012, Stringer was replaced in that role by Kazuo Hirai, who was at the time head of Sony Computer Entertainment. Stringer remained on the board and then replaced board chairman Yotaro Kobayashi in June of 2012.

Stringer spoke of his decision to retire during a Japan Society lecture in New York, according to the Financial Times, and said he would pursue "new opportunities I've been presented with lately." He didn't elaborate on the opportunities or any future plans.

Under Stringer's watch, Sony financials slumped and its major businesses, including the PlayStation and HDTVs, lost market share.

Kobayashi has said previously that Stringer "has a unique capacity to inspire people, to build teams, to make the tough decisions, and to think with clarity and foresight about the challenges we face and how to surmount them."