Ricoh simply wanted many eggs in different baskets. It is trend. Everyone else does it. They must show themselves as being 'forward looking', so they must shop for smaller brands like everyone else does.
"How many companies you have purchased this week? Only three? Ah, we did five. Cheap as chips. Hey, do you know XYZ is going for sale in 3 weeks? Khmm, (lowering voice) I did not tell you this, but all's been cleared out, Canon is apparently interested, but .. you know, the NCU would not like to deal with them .. And you did not get this from me .. cough .. Capisci?"
When you are with boys, you must also brag about how well you can pick your nose and how many sparrows you scared with a sling shot.
So they bought Pentax. They had an ultra small imaging part of the company for ages, and wanted to make it slightly better.
"We thought of buying them new carpets, desks and a drink cabinet, but we thought buying Pentax is cheaper; bhahaha, Hoya painted all walls fresh and put new carpets before sale." Another big boys rule: don't invest into it too much, as to preserve the overall 'cool daddy boy' appearance, which means, if you buy a smaller company, you should show no sweat, or other boys will start laughing, looking at each other, and your share prices go down. Don't forget, the poker game is still on.
So no, you must play poker well, and show the new inventory feels good and you .. cool.
"Another whiskey rocks, boys, this one's on Ricoh, as we've shown profit with new acquisition! And not only that, daddy Ricoh is gonna make a new camera no one here on this table has — a Medium Format beast. Hah! Eat that! Those new Pentax boys are really good. Wonder we did not buy them earlier. ..."
"
Yeah!", everybody shouts, share prices remain same, or slightly raise. Poker goes on. And on Saturday's night game, daddy Ricoh showed himself with a bottle of 1948 Ballantines, and with a shiny new black 645Z!
"Brmmm, brmmm. Flop, flop. Click, click, 51 MPs in 0.7 seconds, and this feels better than sheik's Ilamini's new Aston Martin he was waiting for 18 months!"
And the game goes on.