S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a monthly rundown of executive and board changes in the Asia-Pacific media and communications industries.
Top news
* Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC Deputy President John (Tsuyoshi) Kodera was appointed president and CEO of the Sony Corp. unit. Kodera will be replacing Andrew House, who will remain as the company's chairman through the year to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities, according to an Oct. 3 statement.
* Baidu Inc. on Sept. 17 named Herman Yu as its new CFO. Yu, who joins from Weibo Corp. will take over from Jennifer Li, who steps down to become a senior adviser to Baidu's senior management. Meanwhile, Alex Tze-Pin Cheng, general manager at Baidu's research center in the U.S., was appointed chief technology officer, 36kr reported Sept. 18.
* Walt Disney International realigned its management structure for Asia by creating two regional hubs — North Asia and South Asia, The Economic Times (India) reported Sept. 12. The Walt Disney Co. unit tapped Mahesh Samat to lead the South Asia hub as senior vice president and managing director, while Luke Kang will lead North Asia as executive vice president and managing director.
Media industry moves
* Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission appointed Gen. Sukit Khamasunthorn as its new chairman, the Bangkok Post reported Oct. 7.
* Matthew Collier, CEO of Y&R Indonesia, will leave the advertising agency at the end of the month to be the head of iflix's Indonesian unit, Mumbrella reported Oct. 5.
* Shaji Mathews vacated his COO post at GTPL Hathway to become Kerala Communicators Cable's CEO, Television Post reported Sept. 28.
* Malaysia's Media Prima Berhad appointed Johan Ishak as the CEO of Media Prima Television Networks and Alfian Talib as the chief commercial officer of The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd., Digital News Asia reported Sept. 28.
* Entertainment One Ltd. said Sept. 27 that it appointed former BBC Worldwide Ltd. executive Joyce Yeung as executive vice president of sales for its Asia-Pacific operations.
* Oriental DreamWorks said Sept. 26 that it promoted its Head of Creative Peilin Chou to chief creative officer.
* Singapore Press Holdings, which started a review of its media business last year, is considering job cuts amid a reorganization, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News on Sept. 21.
* Nine Entertainment Co.'s Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Alex Parsons is leaving the company after more than a decade, The Australian Financial Review reported Sept. 21. Parsons' responsibilities will be shared among Helen McCabe and Christiaan Rutten, who will become digital content director and digital chief operating officer, respectively.
* Ravi Vora, chief marketing officer of HOOQ, will leave the company in mid-October for an undisclosed reason, Mumbrella Asia reported Sept. 20.
* SKY Network Television Ltd. said Sept. 19 that it appointed former News U.K. CEO and Sky plc COO Mike Darcey as an independent director on its board.
* The Story Lab, the entertainment content unit of Dentsu Aegis Network, named former iflix executive Donovan Castillo-Mohlman as its president for Asia-Pacific, World Screen reported Sept. 18.
* FOXTEL's Managing Director for Customer and Retail Mark Buckman is leaving the pay-TV operator in December, Mumbrella reported Sept. 18.
* Hooq on Sept. 15 named Jennifer Batty as chief content officer.
* Sky plc executive Anil Jhingan is joining iflix as its chief commercial and financial officer. Jhingan will replace CFO Georg Chmiel, who will shift to a new role as non-executive chairman of iCar Asia, iflix said Sept. 13.
* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. hired quantum scientist Yaoyun Shi to be the chief scientist for its cloud computing sector, Jiemian reported Sept. 11.
* iQiyi appointed Che Che as its vice president, Netease News reported Sept. 11. Che was formerly director of the successful iQiyi show "The Rap of China."
Communications industry moves
* SoftBank Group Corp. has increased its U.K.-based staff at ARM Holdings plc to 2,173 from 1,749 since acquiring the Cambridge-based chip designer in September 2016, the Financial Times (London) reported Oct. 6.
* Hitachi Ltd.'s Hitachi Vantara on Oct. 3 announced the appointment of Brad Surak as chief product and strategy officer and John Murphy as vice president for offerings management. The appointments are intended to support the company's industrial Internet of Things and services portfolios. Surak moves to Hitachi from GE Digital and Murphy from IBM.
* Liu Aili resigned as executive director and vice president of China Mobile Ltd. due to work reassignment, according to a Sept. 29 news release.
* Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. on Oct. 2 announced Chairman Morris Chang's retirement in June 2018. Chang will be succeeded as chairman by Mark Liu, while C.C. Wei will become CEO.
* Indosat Ooredoo CEO Alexander Rusli will step down by the end of October and will be replaced by Joy Wahyudi, Indosat's director of chief sales and distribution officer, CNN Indonesia reported Sept. 29.
* NTT Communications Corp. on Sept. 25 appointed Yasuhiro Mitake as vice president of its AI Office, applications, and content.
* Microsoft Corp. tapped Ken Sun to be general manager of its operations in Taiwan, DIGITIMES reported Sept. 15.