Fumio Ohtsubo, Panasonic AVC Networks president, will become president of Matsushita Electric Industrial, replacing Kunio Nakamura in June, the company announced here.
Ohtsubo, 60, is also a Matsushita managing director. He joined the company in 1971 and has led the consumer electronics business in recent years. He is credited with pushing Panasonic’s market-leading plasma operations and more recent emphasis on digital cameras and in-home networking.
Nakamura, 66, will become chairman of the company, replacing Yoichi Morishita, who moves to an executive advisor role.
In his six years as Matsushita president, Nakamura led a company turnaround from its worst loss in 80 years. The company was restructured and downsized, resulting in approximately 13,000 job cuts.
Matsushita reported a $416 million group net profit for the quarter, ended Dec. 31, 2005, on sales of $20 billion. The company said it now expects a $1 billion profit for the fiscal year ending in March.
At the same time, Susumu Koike, technology and semiconductors senior managing director, was promoted to executive VP of the semiconductor business.
The changes must be approved in a shareholders vote at the company’s general meeting June 28.
