Sony CEO Howard Stringer made a series of candid comments on Thursday, as reported by the film industry trade journal The Hollywood Reporter on November 9, 2007:

On Sony"s film business, Stringer said that he "needs the power of entertainment and content to drive the digitization of the whole company." He argued that "the studio is integral" even there may be some buzz of a possible sale (of Sony"s Imageworks and Animation Units.) He also rejected the notion that Sony is dependent on the "Spider-Man" franchise to turn its film studio around.

On PS3, Stringer said if the momentum of the recent price cuts continues, PS3 will sell 10 million units worldwide by the end of its fiscal year. He also expressed some envy for companies like Nintendo with a narrow product lineup.

On Blu-ray, he said if Sony"s format lost the war to HD DVD, then Sony would only have to change the hard drive for its PlayStation, but the loss would not hurt Sony beyond that. He signaled that he would have preferred to integrate the two formats if he could travel back in time, but then remarked that the format war was "all about saving face." He believed Microsoft supports HD DVD because Blu-Ray"s stronger anti-piracy protection is probably not in Microsoft"s interest. He cited the competition between PS3 and Xbox 360 as a likely sub-plot behind Microsoft"s motivation to support HD DVD.

Stringer also talked about his lack of Japanese skill as Sony"s CEO, his next likely job once he leaves Sony, his former position as executive producer of the CBS nightly news with Dan Rather, the upcoming U.S. presidential election, and his impressions of Queen Elizabeth, the British monarchy and President Bush.