OSAKA -- Katsuhiko Machida, a managing director of Sharp Corp., will become president on June 26, succeeding Haruo Tsuji, who will become a counselor, it was announced here Thursday.
Three vice presidents will also resign at the same time and become regular advisers to the firm.
Tsuji, 65, who has served as president since June 1986, said that because strategic management is required from now on, a younger generation of managers should be in control of the company.
His resignation was not to take responsibility for profit losses, he said. Sharp's consolidated pretax profit for the last financial year, which was announced Thursday, stood at 50.6 billion yen, a fall of 42.9 percent from the year before.
Machida, 54, who presently heads the company's electrical household appliance department and domestic sales, said that as president he wants to continue to utilize liquid crystal technology, an area in which the company is a world-leader.