Born on January 26, 1921, the eldest son of a sake-brewing family dating back to the early Edo period (15th-generation head Morita Kyuzaemon) in Shirakabe-cho, Nagoya, Aichi. After the old-system Aichi First Middle School and the Eighth Higher School, he graduated from the Physics Department of the Faculty of Science, Osaka Imperial University (1944), and served as a naval technology lieutenant engaged in research on heat-guided weapons. During this period he became acquainted with Ibuka Masaru as a fellow naval technology officer. After the defeat in 1945 he had intended to succeed to the family sake-brewing business, but in 1946, at Ibuka's invitation, he became a co-founder of Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (at 25, as managing director; later vice-president, president, and chairman). From the 1950s he led marketing and sales. On a visit to the United States in 1953 he intuited the market potential of the transistor radio. With the export of the 'TR-55' (1955) and the 'TR-63' (1958) to the United States, he grew Sony into a world brand. In 1960 he established Sony Corporation of America in New York and himself lived there to direct the first full-scale overseas expansion of a Japanese company. He became president in 1971 and chairman in 1976. In July 1979, taking a hint from Ibuka's idea, he released the 'Walkman' worldwide, creating a worldwide hit that sparked a lifestyle revolution. In 1988 Sony acquired Columbia Pictures (at the time, the largest overseas M&A by a Japanese company at 3.4 billion dollars), transforming Sony into a company with both electronics and entertainment wings. In 1989 his book 'The Japan That Can Say No,' co-authored with Ishihara Shintaro, stirred international controversy. In November 1993 he was felled by a cerebral hemorrhage, and fought illness thereafter. He died of pneumonia at Saiseikai Central Hospital in Tokyo on October 3, 1999, at 78.

He combined the dignity of an heir of a prominent family with international sense and sociability. In contrast to Ibuka, a pure engineer, Morita excelled in marketing, sales, and international business, and as a Japanese corporate manager he was the first to be active on the world stage after the war. High in English ability, he built deep networks of personal connections in Western political and business circles. 'Business is something to enjoy' was his creed, and he had a cheerful character that treasured employees, family, and friends. He was respected even by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs, who made Sony a brand of aspiration.

The Walkman (1979) was not a mere audio product but presented a new lifestyle of 'personalized musical experience' to the world, becoming a precursor of the revolution that would be carried on into the iPod. Morita's global strategy — local production, local employment, and adaptation to local culture — became a model case for the international expansion of Japanese companies and a model for the overseas advances of Toyota, Honda, and others. With the acquisitions of Columbia Pictures (1988) and CBS Records (1987), Sony's strategy of integrating hardware and content became the foundation for present-day PlayStation and film and music businesses. He received the Order of Culture in 1991 and was awarded an honorary British knighthood in 1993. After his death, Steve Jobs said, 'Morita was a great inspiration of my life.' The Morita family (Shikishima Sake Brewery) in Tokoname, Aichi, still operates as the sake 'Nenohi,' and in 2014 a commemorative event for the 100th anniversary of his birth was held.