U.S. business magazine Fortune has announced that Sony Corp. President Nobuyuki Idei has been chosen as its first Businessman of the Year in Asia.

A profile of Idei and the reasons behind the recognition will appear in the magazine's Jan. 12 issue, the publication said Wednesday. Fortune said that as part of its selection criteria, it "looked not only for long-term financial performance but for important tangibles that make a great manager, including a penchant for risk, a vision of the future, a feel for a new technology and a knack for managing people."

To be eligible for the award, an executive must run a company with at least $750 million in sales, the magazine said. Sony enjoyed a record $50 billion in sales in the last fiscal year.

Fortune said that under Idei's leadership, Sony has strengthened its reputation as the premier maker of consumer electronics. "The Sony name still rules when it comes to quality and innovation despite the challenge from lower-priced competitors in (South) Korea and elsewhere," the magazine said in a press release.

The magazine said Idei has been lucky to a certain extent, citing the fall in the yen's value from less than 100 to the dollar when he assumed the presidency of the firm to more than 120 today. Still, it lauded Idei for "pushing the company into digital product lines and (setting) the direction for an entirely new generation of products," noting that his "gutsy managing style also played a role in turning the company around."

Besides Idei, Fortune chose as runners-up three businessmen who "deserve honorable mention for the way they turned crisis into opportunity" and "prevailed during the most challenging years for business in Asia." The three are Li Ka Shing, chairman of Cheung Kong, Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong; Kim Woo-Choong, chairman of South Korea's Daewoo group; and Peter Sutch, chairman of Swire Pacific in Hong Kong.