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Photokina is over and we can talk again about the Olympus fraud story. Some of you may read that this morning three former Olympus executives plead guilty in fraud trial (Source: Reuters). Our reader Michael underlined that “Sentencing will occur at a later date. Typically Japanese executives in business scandals get fined and receive suspended sentences rather than being sent to jail.”
That said there is one more very important news. Reuters reports that “Sony Corp will likely approve a plan this week to invest 50 billion yen ($642 million) in cash-strapped Olympus Corp, becoming its biggest shareholder with around a 10 percent stake. Sony will set up a joint business with Olympus to develop new medical equipment, and next year will send an executive to join its board of directors. Sony wants to nurture new businesses, including medical equipment, to increase revenue as it draws back from loss-making televisions. Olympus, seeking to retain a high degree of independence, may favor a capital injection from Sony rather than offers of closer business ties from rivals such as medical device maker Terumo Corp and camera maker Fujifilm Holdings Corp.”
There is no info about how the deal will effect the camera business. I don’t think Sony will join the m43 system nor do I think that Olympus will join the NEX system. Sony wants to have their hands on the medical business. I hope Sony will keep doing great sensors for Olympus cameras like the one we had inside the [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink]. That’s all we need!
28 Responses
Actually there is more info available: Oly will purchase photo components from Sony. (They already do.)
nice to see a bit more sensible reporting from Reuters but then certain hedge funds are now less involved…
whatever happened to our old friend Mr. ……..?
hopefully some point in the future Olympus can buy out the Sony stake…
Yes , Exmor sensor for M4/3 .
If Pana still can’t do much in it’s sensor department , I would urge them to follow what Oly did .
Get a Sony sensor , nobody will care what is what , the only thing people mind is IQ of the camera .
that the begining of the end fo olympus remember my words…
@43242343
bit difficult to remember someone’s words when they aren’t capable of using the same ID all the time.
+1
Partnerships, investments, strategic alliance, those happens all the time. It rarely translates into dismantling acquisition. Even when Sony is involved.
ask the Minolta fans how it worked out for them when Sony “helped”
Or Pentax and Hoya.
10% does not constitute control.
But the investment means Sony is confident in Olympus’s financial future.
This investment could also lead to sharing technologies.
It could be a win-win for both parties!
I is absolute agree.
The success of Olympus medical division is the jewel in the crown the imaging dept has been losing money hand over fist for years { even more if you look at the legitimate numbers}
The main outlays from Olympus’ side is in covering the horrendous losses from the property speculations ca 1990. Ok — they may also have lost money in their camera division, but the main problem has been covering up their old debt.
> Olympus, seeking to retain a high degree of independence, may favor a capital injection from Sony rather than offers of closer business ties from rivals such as medical device maker Terumo Corp and camera maker Fujifilm Holdings Corp.
That’s news to me.
Still, Sony might be a good partner. Especially if they are interested in a join venture. Sony is quite aggressive when pushing into new markets (NEX is a recent example) and that might be beneficial to Olympus. Especially, if Olympus’s marketing and PR would learn thing or two from the Sony’s counterparts.
Real substance to me here is that Sony wants to grow its medical branch. I was real surprised to learn from the news how much their bottom line depends on the TV business. Their actual medical business seems to be a joke ( http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/mkt-medical/ ) and more of a “for medical” rather than “medical” – effectively the same multimedia retooled/certified for medical purposes.
Interesting would be to see how that all would impact the Oly Imaging. I personally think that Sony has more to learn from Olympus here: lenses! lenses! lenses!
ahhaah sony will buy all olympus! trow your 4/3 and buy a real camera a99
An interesting suggestion, I’ll head on over to SAR right away.
Clearly this blog is NOT a business economy experts panel 🙂
Olympus in not i danger – it will be strenghened by the Sony deal.
1) Oly sells competence to Sony in medical + they can together fund R&D in this area
2) Oly buys camera components from Sony. = Oly does not need R&D costs on everything and can focus (R&D) on their own strengths instead
Business is full of this type of cooperation even between competitors! They do this as both benefit from it.
Dear Olympistas: Dont worry – be happy 🙂
@Kylberg
well said :-]
Just to let you know… the camera you’ve been waiting Panasonic to make… like the Digilux 3 and the Panasonic version, has arrived. The New and Exciting Fuji X-E1, the star of Photokina. Check it out.
Lol – speak for yourself.
My thoughts exactly.
May be the end of the mFT partnership between Panasonic and Olympics because of Sony’s involvement?
I wouldn’t worry about Sony selling sensors to Olympus. They have been selling sensors to major competitors for a while now. And good ones (D7000/K-5).
I agree, there is a very large amount of cross-supplying of components throughout the electronics industry.
Well !@$% I guess that’s it for me and Olympus cameras. Can’t support anything that has to do with Sony. Luckily My E1 is still chugging along. Canon is out too so I guess its Sigma or Panasonic for me.
But panasonic goes for sony too.
And if you count LCD screens since you don’t want anything with sony, while sony monopoly the camera back LCD… Your best bet is samsung NX, not their compact dc though.
I don’t think the GH3 has a Sony sensor will have to look at the Sigma SD1M if it has any Sony parts. There’s still the Olympus E-5 which would last me 8+ years like my E-1. Only if Sony today was the Sony of the 80’s.
Shared board members of competing companies? #1 shareholder in a major competitor? I don’t think that happens all the time between major large competitors in the top 5 in marketshare of a consumer goods company. Economic theory would suggest industry innovation will slow and prices will rise with the reduced competition. No benefit to photographers unless you argue Oly would close it’s doors without this infusion.
With that said, I would be opposed to any government trying to fight it.