[clackers]

If true, this is a tragedy for all lovers of cameras and history. This is a company that started in the same year as Asahi Optical. Being all-in on mirrorless has not helped them, just like Samsung before them.

Rumors Arise That Olympus May Shut Down Imaging Division in Less Than a Year | Fstoppers

[2B1]

Good to see , No one has posted .

"Olympus is Doomed".

Its only a rumour and other imaging companies have made a loss. Olympus , this year have restructured and I believe bought back Sony shares.

[UncleVanya]

Good to see , No one has posted .

"Olympus is Doomed".

Its only a rumour and other imaging companies have made a loss. Olympus , this year have restructured and I believe bought back Sony shares.

Sony had an ownership stake in Olympus? I didn't know that.

[StarTroop]

That would be sad if it happened. Olympus has a great legacy, and continues to have great hardware, but somehow they can't seem to entice enough adopters. I wonder if it's in Panasonic's interest to help keep Olympus afloat, like the Apple-Microsoft bailout. Or maybe Panasonic is planning to either ditch or dominate the M43 market, either way meaning they couldn't care less about Olympus?

It's a shame to see one of the major crop-sensor advocates do so poorly, because I really don't want to see a future where only full-frame is given any attention in a effort to differentiate from smartphones. M43 still has a big size advantage over any smartphone, and personally I think Olympus made to coolest enthusiast-level mirrorless cameras (sort of like the mirrorless analogue to Pentax), which I think should be reason enough for someone to buy into it rather than an expensive smartphone camera.


It's strange to think that Olympus is in such dire straits, Canon and Nikon both are reporting massive drops in profit, Fuji's situation isn't so profitable, and yet Ricoh doesn't seem to be worried about Pentax or their imaging division at all. Could Pentax's slow rate of development be making it the most stable brand of them all?

[tokyoscape]

Olympus as a company is not going under any time soon.
They just announced a 1,606.4% profit increased due to the growth in the Endoscopic Solutions Business, Therapeutic Solutions Business and Scientific Solutions Business, and they are expanding globally according to their latest business plan announced to shareholders.

As for their Imaging Business; (Digital cameras and voice recorders)
It is a declined of 17%, while (wait for this) operating loss also declined by 62% from the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Last year, looks like they got into a problem with their Chinese subsidiary, and needed a restructuring of their Imaging Business’s manufacturing locations which was a major experience for their imaging biz last quarter.

All of my information can be checked at any business news site. it is a well-known information and it is reported more than one time in multiple major news outlets.

I would read and believe real business data more than the camera nerd site which only reports rumor without backchecking a story.

[aaacb]

a previous thread on this: Olympus Rumours - PentaxForums.com

[Mistral75]

If true, this is a tragedy for all lovers of cameras and history. This is a company that started in the same year as Asahi Optical. Being all-in on mirrorless has not helped them, just like Samsung before them.

Rumors Arise That Olympus May Shut Down Imaging Division in Less Than a Year | Fstoppers

I'm afraid your title 'F-Stoppers repeating rumour Olympus has less than twelve months left' is a bit misleading: it's Olympus Imaging that could have less than twelve months left, not Olympus Corp.

The title of the article from Fstoppers is, as you correctly quoted, 'Rumors Arise That Olympus May Shut Down Imaging Division in Less Than a Year'.

By the way, established on 12 October 1919 Olympus initially specialised in microscopes and thermometers. They introduced their first camera in 1936 (Semi-Olympus I, fitted with the first Zuiko-branded lens).

[Mistral75]

Sony had an ownership stake in Olympus? I didn't know that.

Following the 2011 accounting scandal and its impact on Olympus shareholders equity Sony came to the rescue of Olympus. They subscribed to a ¥50bn ($643.5m) capital increase and became the biggest shareholder in Olympus Corp. with a 11.46% stake.

Sony sold half of their stake to JPMorgan in April 2015 and the other half to Olympus in August 2019 for a total amount of ¥150bn.

[Mistral75]

(...)

As for their Imaging Business; (Digital cameras and voice recorders)
It is a declined of 17%, while (wait for this) operating loss also declined by 62% from the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Last year, looks like they got into a problem with their Chinese subsidiary, and needed a restructuring of their Imaging Business’s manufacturing locations which was a major experience for their imaging biz last quarter.

(...)

Olympus as a group are doing fine but their Imaging Business has bled money since FY2009. The total operating loss between FY2009 and FY2019, both years included, amounts to ¥92.9bn. That's roughly one billion dollars lost over 11 years.



The operating loss reported for H1 (April-September) decreased from ¥9.2bn in FY2019 to ¥5.7bn in FY2020, i.e. an apparent 38% reduction. This is due to the massive decrease in one-off costs, including restructuring costs, between FY2019 (¥5.3bn) and FY2020 (¥1.0bn). Net of one-off costs, the operating loss increased from ¥3.9 in FY2019/H1 to ¥4.7bn in FY2020/H1, i.e. an 18% increase.

The source of the above: Olympus financial reporting and more specifically https://www.olympus-global.com/ir/data/brief/pdf/Olympus_Q2FY2020_Supplemental_E.pdf page #7.

[PocketPixels]

Those of us who are endoscopic surgeons and/or beat reporters will be relieved to know that Olympus endoscopes and voice recorders will likely survive.

I'm afraid your title 'F-Stoppers repeating rumour Olympus has less than twelve months left' is a bit misleading: it's Olympus Imaging that could have less than twelve months left, not Olympus Corp.

The title of the article from Fstoppers is, as you correctly quoted, 'Rumors Arise That Olympus May Shut Down Imaging Division in Less Than a Year'.

By the way, established on 12 October 1919 Olympus initially specialised in microscopes and thermometers. They introduced their first camera in 1936 (Semi-Olympus I, fitted with the first Zuiko-branded lens).

[dantonvb]

Sad news!

[Glen]

It's a tough market out there so this is not at all surprising. How Olympus could stay in the digital imaging (camera) business this long is the real surprise. The entire industry is in an upheaval. Nikon remains highly exposed to loss as they are not well sheltered by other income streams so five years from now. who knows? I would say that the only certainty is that Sony will still be standing strong in this market in five years and who would have thought that five or so years ago?

[stevebrot]

yet Ricoh doesn't seem to be worried about Pentax or their imaging division at all.

Steve

[Digitalis]

Sony had an ownership stake in Olympus?

Sony can flipping sod off, if Olympus is going under it deserves to go out with dignity.

Could Pentax's slow rate of development be making it the most stable brand of them all?

AFAIK Ricoh is taking a "wait and see approach". As for stability, I suppose Pentax R&D isn't throwing money around like the others in a desperate attempt to remain relevant. In the current market the big two Canon and Nikon are looking rather awkward. Up until this point, Sony has been chasing cars and it finally got a grasp on one...but has no idea with what to do with it.

[Rondec]

I think the big thing that has changed is that the Hedge Fund ValueAct has purchased a stake in Olympus and has forced them to put three outsiders on the board. While the company as a whole may be making money, those sorts of folks are not the kind who will sit easy with a division that has chronically been losing money and they'll pressure them to either turn it around or downsize it considerably.

For the sake of photographers, I hope it isn't true. We need more options when it comes to photographic gear and more companies innovating. When we lose one, we all lose, even if we don't shoot with the company that shut things down.