Sony Pictures co-chief Amy Pascal steps down after North Korea hack
Sony Pictures co-chief Amy Pascal is stepping down from the entertainment company just months after it was targeted by hackers causing one of the largest leaks of information in corporate history.
The head of the movie studio is leaving to set up her own production company in the wake of the leaks which caused embarrassing information such as personal emails from Pascal as well as highly sensitive business information to be published online.
Pascal’s new company will be launched under the Sony studio umbrella, providing funding for at last the next four years.
"I have spent almost my entire professional life at Sony Pictures and I am energized to be starting this new chapter based at the company I call home," said Pascal. A successor has not been named and co-head Michael Lynton is now left in charge.
North Korea is suspected of orchestrating the cyber attack by US security authorities, in retaliation for Sony's movie, the Interview, about an attempt to assassinate the secretive country's leader Kim Jong Un starring Seth Rogan and James Franco.
Among less embarrassing leaks, Pascal backed British actor and star of HBO's The Wire and the BBC's Luther, Idris Elba, to play James Bond in an email.