[froeschle]

43 Rumors | Blog | Ex Olympus CEO Mr. Woodford speaks to FT: "They told me to catch a bus to the airport"

43 Rumors | Blog | Woodford says: "company needs to be cleaned up". Huge -23% value drop of Olympus shares.

43 Rumors | Blog | Interview with Woodford (and Olympus shares keep losing value).

[mattb123]

Wow, that looks messy. On the plus side the stock might be a bargain right now assuming they survive this.

[froeschle]

News:
Olympus sacking drama takes new twist
Olympus: Woodford report 'open to misinterpretation' (update 2.30)

Olympus paid $687 million...
Olympus Paid $687 Million Gyrus Fee, Double Amount Kikukawa Said Yesterday

...which is about 5x what Ricoh paid for the "Pentax camera business"
UPDATE 2-Japan's Hoya: to sell Pentax camera business to Ricoh

Letter of the ex CEO (via NY Times):
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/20111018/letter-text.pdf

Company response:
www.olympus-global.com/en/corc/ir/tes/pdf/nr111019.pdf

Result:
Olympus Corp (7733:JP) Stock Quote & Analysis - Bloomberg

[Chex]

Well I'm sure glad we're in our boat in the market change-over to Ricoh than being in the boat that Olympus is in.. WOW That's an awful lot of R&D and product marketing and fabrication money that just went *poof*!

[RioRico]

If Oly goes down (as a criminal enterprise) does m4/3 go down too?

[Chex]

1st off, Thanks for whichever mod moved my post, I searched for Olympus before making my thread didn't see this one!
2nd.. would the loss of m4/3 really be a bad thing? I guess I'd think differently if I had invested in it in any way shape or form.

[Wheatfield]

Olympus is just one of many makers in the 4/3 consortium. I suspect that Panasonic would be quite happy to see the loss of competition.

[froeschle]

Olympus's $687 mln advisory fee sets M&A record | Reuters

The $687 million fee Japan's Olympus Corp paid its financial advisers for the $2.2 billion purchase of a British medical equipment maker is one for the record books, literally [...] The payment is the largest M&A fee ever made [...]

Exclusive-Olympus trail reaches elusive banker's resort home | Reuters

[...] The veteran banker, Hajime 'Jim' Sagawa, owned an obscure U.S. financial firm which was hired by the endoscope-maker five years ago to provide what later turned out to be stunningly expensive advice, a fee of $687 million (435 million pounds), the documents show. [...]

UPDATE 4-Olympus bows to investor pressure, launches M&A review | Reuters

[...] Share fall reaches 50 pct, down 6.8 percent on day [...] Olympus says will open inquiry into deals [...]

FBI reportedly probes Olympus fee; shares tumble | Reuters

FBI reportedly probes Olympus fee; shares tumble [...] Shares of Olympus have more than halved since Oct 14 and closed the morning session on Monday down 12.3 percent at 1,080 yen after touching 1,012 yen, its lowest level since March 1998. [...] "Many players seem to expect it to fall to around 700-800 yen," said a trader at a Japanese brokerage. At 700 yen, it will be at about 10 percent above its book value. [...]

Huge Olympus fees have 'underworld links' - Telegraph

[...] The unverified reports in Sankie, one of Japan's biggest daily newspapers, suggest that $1.5bn (£971m) in acquisition costs and advisory payments relating to four acquisitions could be linked to the local criminal underworld. [...]

Olympus Corp (7733:JP) Stock Quote & Analysis - Bloomberg




http://www.olympus-global.com/en/corc/ir/summary/image/list_en_02.gif
OLYMPUS - Segment information by type of business:

42% Medical systems
11.9% Life Science and Industrial
15.5% Imaging systems
24.7% Information and communication
5.9% Others

[froeschle]

Business News | IOL Business | IOL.co.za

The board of Olympus has more money than brains

Businessweek

Olympus Says Leaks by Ex-CEO Aimed to Hurt Company’s Image

Reuters

Editor behind Olympus scoop says Japan Inc still has secrets

NYTimes.com

[...] For two decades, a pair of Japanese bankers toiled away in relative anonymity on Wall Street, hopping from firm to firm.
Now the two — Hajime Sagawa and Akio Nakagawa — are at the center of a growing firestorm over a mysterious $687 million payout by Olympus [...]

Electronista

Olympus chairman returns fire at ex-CEO Woodford [...] The memo revealed little in response Woodford’s accusations, but was instead aimed at trying to discredit the ousted CEO. Among accusations that Woodford broke company management rules, and even “did not like Japan.” He also accuses Woodford of reckless expenditure by travelling around Europe and to his home in the UK by private jet. [...]

Reuters

Olympus: Chairman and President Kikukawa resigns

[froeschle]

From the last link:

The company is scheduled to hold a news conference at 1730 JST (4:30 a.m. EDT).

BBC News

[...] "As we have troubled our customers, business partners and shareholders over a series of press reports and a slump in share prices, chairman and president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa today returned his titles, as well as his right to representation," the company said.

Mr Kikukawa will become a director without executive rights, the company said

Shuichi Takayama, a current director, will replace him as president.[...]

Press conference - Japan Real Time - WSJ

WSJ.com

[...] In a telephone interview with Dow Jones Newswires shortly after the Olympus press conference, Mr. Woodford said he saw little prospect of change in the company.

"This is just depressing," Mr. Woodford said. "Olympus needs someone completely new, not from the board, someone from the outside."

"And the most important question still remains. Why did they pay so much money to unknown parties?" he said, noting that Mr. Takayama, the new president, was one of the board members who voted to remove Mr. Woodford Oct. 14. [...]


In response to a question about Olympus's stock price, Mr. Takayama said he believed it will recover because the fundamental value of the company hasn't changed.

[froeschle]

Olympus admits it hid losses for decades | Reuters

Japan's Olympus admitted on Tuesday it hid losses on securities investments dating back to the 1980s, succumbing to weeks of pressure to explain a series of baffling transactions that have put the future of the firm in doubt.

[...] Lawyers said that if Olympus were found to have knowingly falsified its consolidated financial statements that were deemed material in nature, its representatives could face up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to 10 million yen. [...]

Olympus Corp (7733:JP) Stock Quote & Analysis - Bloomberg
PRICE: 734.000 JPY
52-Week Range: 2,835.00 - 734.00

[mattb123]

Ouch.

[reeftool]

Ouch.

Yeah, things aren't looking too good for Oly right now. Too bad really. They have always made a fine camera. A lot of skilled craftsmen will likely be out of a job soon because of a bunch of greedy execs whose only desire was to make a quick buck.

[RioRico]

A lot of skilled craftsmen will likely be out of a job soon because of a bunch of greedy execs whose only desire was to make a quick buck.

I've read analyses that there was Yakuza infiltration and takeover in 2008, as shown by Olympus' sudden expansion into Yakuza-dominated business sectors far from Olympus' historic core activities. Travel agencies, temporary labor, garbage hauling -- huh?!? So that would indicate it's not just "a bunch of greedy execs" -- it's mafiya bleeding of a former corporate giant.

[nosnoop]

I've read analyses that there was Yakuza infiltration and takeover in 2008, as shown by Olympus' sudden expansion into Yakuza-dominated business sectors far from Olympus' historic core activities. Travel agencies, temporary labor, garbage hauling -- huh?!? So that would indicate it's not just "a bunch of greedy execs" -- it's mafiya bleeding of a former corporate giant.

But they just admitted that their books have been cooked for the past 20 years!
20 YEARS!!! So their problems are deep rooted, well before whatever happened in 2008.