Incoming Sony Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai's biggest challenge will be to solve a puzzle that bedeviled Howard Stringer for eight years: how to make money selling televisions.

Japan's largest electronics exporter said Wednesday that Hirai, 51, will succeed Stringer, 69, in April. Sony's TV business may lose ¥175 billion this fiscal year, adding to the ¥480 billion in accumulated losses since 2004.

Sony has lost ground to South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., both of which sell TVs profitably.