Contents
Akio Morita
Co-founding Sony and helping take Japanese consumer electronics worldwide.
Transistor radios · Walkman
- Born
- 26 January 1921
- Birthplace
- Nagoya, Japan
- Died
- 3 October 1999
More people
Akio Morita
Akio Morita was a Japanese entrepreneur who combined technical interests with international brand-building.
Early life
Family business
Grew up in a family involved in sake production.
Physics
Studied physics at Osaka Imperial University before wartime naval service.
Career
- 1946
Founding partnership
Established an electronics company with Masaru Ibuka.
- 1950s–1970s
Sony expansion
Helped build the brand and its overseas markets.
- Later career
Business leadership
Served as chairman and an international advocate for Japanese industry.
Companies & products
Transistor radios
Helped bring compact Sony radios to global buyers.
Walkman
Backed a portable cassette player designed for personal listening.
Made in Japan
Published his account of business and technology.
Beyond work
International outlook
Spent time living in the United States to understand its market.
Partnership
His commercial leadership complemented Ibuka’s engineering focus.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Photo: プレジデント社 撮影者不明. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
