| What I am going to say is completely contrary to the sky-is-falling chorus that rang like church bells during the merger: The best thing that happened to Pentax was being acquired by Hoya last year.
We are in the worst worldwide recession since World War II (almightly close to a depression, brother!). Yes the sky is falling - and for economic reasons no one thought possible - but at least Pentax and Hoya are wearing hardhats. The roof is collapsing on top of Nikon, Canon and Sony.
To emphasis the point about profitability made earlier... the thing the sky-is-falling crowd ignored during the takeover is that Pentax was profitable. It just wasn't growing its earnings. The last time I looked Hoya was also profitable. Any decent financial analyst would have taken one look at the balance sheets and concluded both companies are conservatively managed.
A small but profitable competitor like Pentax joining up with Hoya will actually make for a stronger combined company, because small competitors are more likely to fail than bigger ones in our current economy.
We are in an environment where the winner(s) is/are going to be the proverbial Last Man Standing. The competitors that merely survive to the end of this long dark tunnel will count themselves lucky.
Off topic comment
It pains me to see some of our friends on this forum who have lost jobs, or worse, over the last year. You have my deepest sympathies. |