Sony Network Entertainment president to quit

Tim Schaaff, the president of Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI) and group executive for Sony Corporation, is retiring at the end of the year.

In a statement Thursday, Sony Corporation said the executive who joined in December 2005 had contributed "greatly towards Sony's vision to create a network business that unifies Sony's network entertainment experience across all of its hardware products". 

Schaaff, 52, had led Sony's efforts to buld an integrated online content delivery platform to compete with Apple for the past seven years, according to the Times of India (TOI).

TOI noted former CEO, Howard Stringer, had headhunted Schaaff from Apple in 2005 to build the company's online presence. As a member of Steve Jobs' inner circle of developers, Schaaff oversaw the creation of its QuickTime video streaming software, it added.

During the transition from Jan. 1, 2013, Schaaff's responsibilities will be assumed by Andrew House, the current president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.

In the statement, Kazuo Hirai, president and CEO of Sony, said: "Tim has been a strong leader within Sony who truly embodied the 'One Sony' spirit by successfully leading corporate-wide initiatives across business units since he joined."

The Japanese company has been in the midst of restructuring and is slowly recovering from losses in its business. Most recently, Sony narrowed its losses in the second quarter ended September to US$15.5 million from US$27 million.