Akio Morita facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Akio Morita
Senior Third Rank
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| 盛田 昭夫 | |
Morita in 1965
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| Born | January 26, 1921 |
| Died | October 3, 1999 (aged 78) Tokyo, Japan
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| Education | Osaka University (BS) |
| Known for | Co-founder of Sony |
| Spouse(s) | Yoshiko Kamei |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Albert Medal (1982) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
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Branch
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Imperial Japanese Navy |
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Rank
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Sub-Lieutenant |
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Conflicts
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World War II |
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Akio Morita was a famous Japanese inventor, engineer, and business leader. Together with his close friend Masaru Ibuka, he started the world-famous technology company known as Sony. Under his creative leadership, Sony designed exciting electronic devices like pocket radios, portable music players, and televisions. These new inventions completely changed how people around the planet enjoyed their favorite music and watched movies at home.
Contents
Early Life and Growing Up
Akio Morita was born on January 26, 1921, in the city of Nagoya, Japan. His family was very respected and had run a successful food and beverage business since 1665. They made popular Japanese food items like soy sauce and miso paste. Their business was located near the village of Kosugaya, which is now part of Tokoname City on the scenic Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture.
Because Akio was the oldest boy, his father, Kyuzaemon, expected him to manage the family factory one day. He even brought young Akio to long business meetings so he could learn how to run a company. However, Akio found school subjects like mathematics and physics much more interesting than making sauces. He spent his free time taking apart record players and rebuilding electronic gadgets in his room. His parents saw his deep curiosity and kindly supported his dreams of becoming a scientist.
Akio went to college at Osaka Imperial University to study physics. He graduated in 1944 with a Bachelor of Science degree. During World War II, he served as a sub-lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Navy. While working on naval technology research, he met Masaru Ibuka, a talented engineer who loved fixing machines. The two quickly became good friends because they shared a big passion for building new inventions.
Starting Sony and Building Cool Gadgets
How the Company Began
In late 1945, after the war ended, Masaru Ibuka opened a modest radio repair workshop in Tokyo. The shop was located in the damaged Shirokiya department store building in Nihonbashi. Morita saw a news story about Ibuka's new repair project and wrote to him right away. The two friends decided to build an electronics business together.
In May 1946, they founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, which means Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation. They started with about twenty workers and a small amount of money borrowed from Morita's father. While Ibuka focused on engineering, Morita focused on business deals and finding ways to sell their devices.
Inventing Better Sound Machines
The team worked hard to build electronics that nobody else in Japan had made before. In 1949, they developed special magnetic recording tape. A year later, in 1950, they sold the very first tape recorder in Japan.
Next, Ibuka and Morita learned about the transistor, an amazing tiny electronic part invented by Bell Labs. Transistors could boost electric signals while using much less power than bulky glass vacuum tubes. Ibuka bought the rights to use transistor technology to build everyday consumer electronics. In 1957, their team created a compact radio that was small enough to fit inside a pocket. To prove it was pocket-sized, Morita had his salesmen wear custom shirts with slightly larger pockets.
A Brand New Name
In 1958, the co-founders changed their company name to Sony. They picked this name by combining "sonus", the Latin word for sound, with the friendly English nickname "sonny". They wanted a short, catchy name that people everywhere in the world could easily say and remember.
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Morita loved sharing Sony gadgets with other countries. In 1960, he moved his family to the United States to open Sony Corporation of America. He learned English and studied American shopping habits so Sony could sell its products directly to foreign customers. In 1961, Sony became the first Japanese corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange through American depositary receipt shares.
Famous Inventions That Changed the World
The Trinitron and Home Video
Under Morita's guidance, Sony introduced bright color television sets called Trinitron in 1968. People loved the sharp and colorful screen picture. In 1975, Sony introduced Betamax, one of the earliest videocassette recorder systems for living rooms. This machine allowed families to record television shows and watch movies whenever they wanted, competing with another format called VHS.
The Walkman Revolution
In 1979, Sony released one of its most famous creations, the Walkman. Before the Walkman, people could only listen to recorded music sitting near large home stereos. The Walkman was a lightweight, battery-operated cassette player that came with small headphones. It let kids and adults carry their favorite songs everywhere they went, like on walks, bus rides, and bicycle trips.
Digital Music and Computers
Morita also helped lead the shift from magnetic tapes to shiny digital discs. Sony joined forces with the electronics company Philips to invent the compact disc (CD). In 1982, Sony introduced the Sony CDP-101, the world's first commercial compact disc player.
That same year, Sony introduced a durable 3.5-inch floppy disk for desktop computers. It soon became the defacto standard storage disk for schools and offices worldwide. In 1984, Sony launched the portable Discman, letting music lovers take digital CD albums on the go.
Music and Movie Studios
Morita dreamed of combining great entertainment hardware with great media content. He partnered with CBS Records in 1968, and Sony later bought the entire record company. This brought famous music labels like Columbia Records and Epic Records into the Sony family. In 1989, Sony bought Columbia Pictures Entertainment, which included Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures. Sony could now create popular movies and music for its own players.
Leadership and Later Years
Morita became president of Sony in 1971 and was made chairman of the company board in 1976. In 1989, he chose his close partner Norio Ohga to take over as chief executive officer. Morita also served as vice chairman of the Japan Business Federation and helped carmaker General Motors invest in Isuzu. In his free time, he enjoyed chatting on his amateur radio using the call sign JP1DPJ.
Morita wrote several well-known books about his ideas. In 1986, he published his life story, titled Made in Japan. Later, he worked with author Shintaro Ishihara on a book called The Japan That Can Say No. He also appeared in an advertisement for American Express in 1984.
Morita received many great honors for his hard work. In 1982, the British Royal Society of Arts gave him the Albert Medal. France awarded him the Legion of Honour, and the Emperor of Japan presented him with the Order of the Sacred Treasure. In 1993, he was granted an honorary British knighthood (KBE). In 1998, Time magazine named him in the Time 100 list as one of the most influential business creators of the twentieth century. He was also elected to the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Morita stepped down as Sony chairman in 1994 due to health issues. He died of pneumonia on October 3, 1999, at the age of 78 in Tokyo. He was posthumously honored with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun. Today, Akio Morita is remembered as an imaginative leader who brought useful modern technology into homes all over the world.
See also
In Spanish: Akio Morita para niños
