Akio Morita was born on January 26, 1921, in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.
In 1944 he graduated from Osaka Imperial University with a degree in physics. He was later commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and served in World War II. During his service, Morita met his future business partner Masaru Ibuka in the Navy's Wartime Research Committee.
On May 7, 1946, Ibuka founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, the forerunner of Sony Corporation) with about 20 employees and initial capital of ¥190,000. Ibuka was 38 years old. Morita, 25 years old joined Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha shortly after its inception, with Morita's family investing in Sony during the early period and being the largest shareholder.
In 1949, the company developed magnetic recording tape.
in 1950, sold the first tape recorder in Japan.
In 1957, it produced a pocket-sized radio (the first to be fully transistorized).
In 1958, Morita and Ibuka decided to rename their company Sony (derived from "sonus"—–Latin for "sound"—–and Sonny-boys the most common American expression).
In 1960, it produced the first transistor television in the world. In 1973, Sony received an Emmy Award for its Trinitron television-set technology.
In 1960, the Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, currently abbreviated as SCA) was established in the United States.
In 1961, Sony Corporation was the first Japanese company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, in the form of American depositary receipts (ADRs), which are traded over-the-counter.
In 1975, it released the first Betamax home video recorder, a year before VHS format came out.
In 1979, the Walkman was introduced, making it one of the world's first portable music players.
Morita was awarded the Albert Medal by the United Kingdom's Royal Society of Arts in 1982, the first Japanese to receive the honor.
In 1984, Sony launched the Discman series which extended their Walkman brand to portable CD products.
Sony bought CBS Records Group which consisted of Columbia Records, Epic Records and other CBS labels in 1988 and Columbia Pictures Entertainment (Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures and others) in 1989.
On November 25, 1994, Morita stepped down as Sony chairman after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while playing tennis. He was succeeded by Norio Ohga, who had joined the company in the 1950s after sending Morita a letter denouncing the poor quality of the company's tape recorders.
On October 3, 1999, Morita died of pneumonia at the age of 78.