Hoya's Plans for the future (Pentax and other items)

Zarkon · 10-26-2009, 07:21 PM

There is a good piece on Bloomberg about Hoya's plans. Their CEO talks about another big purchase in the medical industry and also some more details about Pentax's camera division. Definitely not shutting down Pentax but a partnership with an electronics firm is in the cards.

Read it here:
Hoya Eyes $1 Billion Acquisition to Boost Health-Care Business - Bloomberg.com

MikePerham · 10-26-2009, 07:44 PM

Originally posted by Zarkon

There is a good piece on Bloomberg about Hoya's plans. Their CEO talks about another big purchase in the medical industry and also some more details about Pentax's camera division. Definitely not shutting down Pentax but a partnership with an electronics firm is in the cards.

Read it here:
Hoya Eyes $1 Billion Acquisition to Boost Health-Care Business - Bloomberg.com

If there is to be a "deeper relationship" with an electronic company and it is not to be Samsung ...who else is there out there that has any expertise in this specific area (viz: sensors and such). Is Ricoh and electronics company? I know they make photocopiers and the like ...and very good ones at that.

Glen · 10-26-2009, 07:49 PM

Although it is only speculation, the following quote bodes well for Pentax.
"The Pentax unit likely turned profitable for the first time in seven quarters after the company cut costs by reducing the workforce, the Nikkei said."

Turning a profit in this market is no small accomplishment. Hopefully that means more money to develop more products.

*isteve · 10-26-2009, 08:38 PM

Originally posted by MikePerham

If there is to be a "deeper relationship" with an electronic company and it is not to be Samsung ...who else is there out there that has any expertise in this specific area (viz: sensors and such). Is Ricoh and electronics company? I know they make photocopiers and the like ...and very good ones at that.

Well this should shut up a few noisy doomsayers...

“I don’t know whether we’ll go with Samsung or somebody else, but I can say that we’ll have a deeper relationship with some electronics guys,” Hamada said. “There will be consolidation in the camera business and a small player like us will be like a small boat on a rough sea. But let me be clear: we will not shut down this business.”

Fair enough!

I think a Samsung partnership is possible - they are now a sensor manufacturer after all and with their LCD technology Pentax would be in great shape. Samsung would have an optics partner - very useful for its disk and mobile phone businesses as well as cameras. But there are other options.

Ricoh may partner with Pentax, but not as an electronics partner. They are the biggest photocopier co. in the world but only by acquisition and they dont make sensors, DRAM or LCDs which is what Pentax needs. Samsung make all three.

Nor do they have to be a company that makes cameras, only one that makes electronic components and would benefit from a deal with an optics company. Anyone who makes semiconductors can make a CMOS image sensor if someone gives them a design, and Pentax probably have developed the design skills.

That would put Hitachi in the frame, and Sanyo or Toshiba or even Fuji. Toshiba already have a joint venture company with Samsung for making storage products (TSST) of which Tosh is a 51% stake holder (so Japanese and US companies DO work together). Tosh also used to make cameras.

However, the number of large scale CMOS sensor fabs worldwide that can compete for R&D with Canon and Sony are very few..... Panasonic and Samsung and thats about it....

And dont write off a deal with Sony. Sony's microchip division is a supplier to industry. They already supply Nikon and would probably be happy to supply Pentax, even build to order as they do for Nikon.

Last edited by *isteve; 10-26-2009 at 08:51 PM.

LeDave · 10-26-2009, 09:24 PM

I hope if they do partner up with Samsung, they don't jack up the price of Pentax lenses by a tenfold, and hopefully they don't produce poorer quality entry-level bodies. I wonder how everything is going to go now, will they keep the Pentax name? Or will they change the name to Samsung or Fuji or something else and still keep the K-mount?

yakiniku · 10-26-2009, 11:04 PM

GO~GO~GO with Fujifilm!!

flippedgazelle · 10-26-2009, 11:16 PM

Originally posted by *isteve

Well this should shut up a few noisy doomsayers...

“I don’t know whether we’ll go with Samsung or somebody else, but I can say that we’ll have a deeper relationship with some electronics guys,” Hamada said. “There will be consolidation in the camera business and a small player like us will be like a small boat on a rough sea. But let me be clear: we will not shut down this business.”

Fair enough!

I think a Samsung partnership is possible - they are now a sensor manufacturer after all and with their LCD technology Pentax would be in great shape. Samsung would have an optics partner - very useful for its disk and mobile phone businesses as well as cameras. But there are other options.

Ricoh may partner with Pentax, but not as an electronics partner. They are the biggest photocopier co. in the world but only by acquisition and they dont make sensors, DRAM or LCDs which is what Pentax needs. Samsung make all three.

Nor do they have to be a company that makes cameras, only one that makes electronic components and would benefit from a deal with an optics company. Anyone who makes semiconductors can make a CMOS image sensor if someone gives them a design, and Pentax probably have developed the design skills.

That would put Hitachi in the frame, and Sanyo or Toshiba or even Fuji. Toshiba already have a joint venture company with Samsung for making storage products (TSST) of which Tosh is a 51% stake holder (so Japanese and US companies DO work together). Tosh also used to make cameras.

However, the number of large scale CMOS sensor fabs worldwide that can compete for R&D with Canon and Sony are very few..... Panasonic and Samsung and thats about it....

And dont write off a deal with Sony. Sony's microchip division is a supplier to industry. They already supply Nikon and would probably be happy to supply Pentax, even build to order as they do for Nikon.

Fuji would be interesting - they have their "Super CCD" technology, and have a history of partnering in the DLSR world (Nikon). Fuji also has some (OK, just a little) mindshare in the P&S arena, whereas Pentax has virtually zilch. Canon gets huge boost because of this, and so does Nikon. Pentax could do worse than be the top "niche" brand - WR bodies and lenses, high-DR (Fuji) sensors, unique & desirable primes... they could be the Subaru of the camera world.

Last edited by flippedgazelle; 10-26-2009 at 11:22 PM.

Kunzite · 10-27-2009, 12:41 AM

You mean, they're not desperate to sell Pentax? Building a partnership instead? What a surprise!

gazonk · 10-27-2009, 02:52 AM

How about Casio? They seem to be very successful in the compact camera market, and already has or had some cooperation with Pentax (Pentax used to make their lenses, don't know if they do any more). But how much of their fancy electronics (the high speed cameras) do Casio make themselves?

dangie · 10-27-2009, 03:34 AM

I'm not very knowledgable on business matters, but from what I saw with Pentax's venture with Samsung, it doesn't matter one jot who you are teamed up with, even if they are the largest electronics manufacturer in the world, if you can't get the public to buy the product then that's it. You've had it. Customers were still buying Canon and Nikon and now Sony. Not Pentax/Samsung. Teaming up with Ricoh, Casio, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sanyo etc etc won't change Pentax's fortunes one bit.

Samsungian · 10-27-2009, 06:15 AM

The Bloomberg Article is Interesting.

For some reason reading thru threads here and elsewhere I thought pentax camera division had turned profitable for Hoya, yet it seems Pentax Cameras and Lenses is Hoya's only division that lost money.

This is a very good article, a very good read:

"

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Hoya Corp., the Japanese lens maker that bought Pentax Corp. for about $1 billion, is prepared to make a similar-sized acquisition to expand its health-care unit.

“We will do some M&As,” Chief Operating Officer Hiroshi Hamada said in an interview at the company’s Tokyo headquarters on Oct. 23. Hoya may target assets as large as Pentax or pursue smaller overseas venture-capital firms, he said.

An acquisition of a health-care business would help President Hiroshi Suzuki expand the company’s most-profitable division, and build on a strategy that led to the 2007 purchase of endoscope maker Pentax. Hoya is also seeking to partner a consumer-electronics company such as Samsung Electronics Co. to compete with larger rivals in the camera market, Hamada said.

“Hoya is a little weak in basic technologies, so it makes sense they’d consider buying a business in order to save development time,” said Mitsuhiro Osawa, an analyst at Ichiyoshi Research Institute Inc. in Tokyo, adding that an acquisition could also help expand distribution channels for medical equipment. “How many doctors do they have connections with? You can’t just build a network overnight.”

Hoya, Japan’s largest maker of optical glass, fell 1 percent to close at 1,975 yen in Tokyo trading, compared with a 1.5 percent decline by the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average. The company’s shares have risen 28 percent this year.

Hamada, 50, formerly president of Dell Inc.’s Japan unit, took over day-to-day operations at Pentax, Japan’s oldest maker of single-lens reflex cameras, in April 2008 and oversaw the closure of the company’s last domestic digital-camera factory.

Partnership For Pentax

The Pentax division will have to build a partnership in order to compete with larger rivals in the digital-camera market, Hamada said. Pentax supplies Samsung with single-lens-reflex cameras for sale under the South Korean company’s brand.

“I don’t know whether we’ll go with Samsung or somebody else, but I can say that we’ll have a deeper relationship with some electronics guys,” Hamada said. “There will be consolidation in the camera business and a small player like us will be like a small boat on a rough sea. But let me be clear: we will not shut down this business.”

Pentax’s sales of 24.6 billion yen ($267 million) in the first quarter were one tenth the 246 billion yen in camera revenue at Canon Inc., the world’s largest maker of the devices. Pentax was the only unprofitable unit among Hoya’s divisions, posting a 941 million yen loss during the quarter ended June 30.

Most Profitable Unit

The health-care division, which makes contact lenses and surgically implanted lenses, accounted for about 14 percent of the company’s overall sales in the first quarter, up from 10 percent a year earlier. The unit’s 21 percent operating margin in the three months ended June 30 was the highest among Hoya’s biggest businesses.

Hoya may post 15 billion yen in operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, for the second quarter, a 60 percent increase from the April-to-June period, the Nikkei newspaper said last week, without saying how it got the information. The Pentax unit likely turned profitable for the first time in seven quarters after the company cut costs by reducing the workforce, the Nikkei said.

Hamada declined to comment on the report, citing the company’s media blackout period before the announcement of earnings on Oct. 30. The yen’s 7.4 percent appreciation against the dollar between July 1 and Sept. 30 hasn’t jeopardized the company’s second-quarter net income forecast for 13.5 billion yen, he said.

“We downsized out organization much faster than others, so we were kind of ready to deal with the yen,” he said. “It was unfavorable, but we were ready for it. So our financial results will be about where we planned.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Jason Clenfield in Tokyo at jclenfield@bloomberg.net; Norihiko Kosaka in Tokyo at nkosaka1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 27, 2009 03:28 EDT

"

**barondla** · 10-27-2009, 06:18 AM

Sharp might be a possibility. They have incredible lcd technology. Have to wonder about LG. They are watching Samsung closely.
thanks
barondla

Check out the WINNERS of POINT & SHOOT CONTEST #24 in the COMPACT CAMERA FORUM. Enter #25. Any brand camera. Enter now!

**Sailor** · 10-27-2009, 06:34 AM

Originally posted by Zarkon

There is a good piece on Bloomberg about Hoya's plans. Their CEO talks about another big purchase in the medical industry and also some more details about Pentax's camera division. Definitely not shutting down Pentax but a partnership with an electronics firm is in the cards.

Read it here:
Hoya Eyes $1 Billion Acquisition to Boost Health-Care Business - Bloomberg.com

Thanks much for posting this. Hamada's comments echo ones from Suzuki earlier: essentially, profitability can be restored by coast cutting but Pentax Imaging is too small to be sustainable without a partnership. Hamada's further elaboration that the partner would be a consumer electronics company is unsurprising, but interesting nonetheless.
His mention that there will be "consolidation in the camera business" is also interesting.

Again thanks for posting the link.

Jer

**Pål Jensen** · 10-27-2009, 07:17 AM

Originally posted by *isteve

That would put Hitachi in the frame, and Sanyo or Toshiba or even Fuji. Toshiba already have a joint venture company with Samsung for making storage products (TSST) of which Tosh is a 51% stake holder (so Japanese and US companies DO work together). Tosh also used to make cameras. .

Pentax had a very close relationship with Toshiba in the past....

**Pål Jensen** · 10-27-2009, 07:33 AM

Originally posted by Samsungian

For some reason reading thru threads here and elsewhere I thought pentax camera division had turned profitable for Hoya, yet it seems Pentax Cameras and Lenses is Hoya's only division that lost money. "

Pentax is EXPECTED to make profit next quarter according to Hoya. Pentax is doing much better than Nikon and Sony.....

10-26-2009, 07:21 PM	#1
Zarkon Forum Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Dallas, TX Photos: Gallery Posts: 76	Hoya's Plans for the future (Pentax and other items) There is a good piece on Bloomberg about Hoya's plans. Their CEO talks about another big purchase in the medical industry and also some more details about Pentax's camera division. Definitely not shutting down Pentax but a partnership with an electronics firm is in the cards. Read it here: Hoya Eyes $1 Billion Acquisition to Boost Health-Care Business - Bloomberg.com

10-26-2009, 07:49 PM	#3
Glen Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 329	A Profit You Say? Although it is only speculation, the following quote bodes well for Pentax. "The Pentax unit likely turned profitable for the first time in seven quarters after the company cut costs by reducing the workforce, the Nikkei said." Turning a profit in this market is no small accomplishment. Hopefully that means more money to develop more products.

10-27-2009, 06:15 AM	#11
Samsungian Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Colorado USA Posts: 1,337	Bloomberg Article is Interesting The Bloomberg Article is Interesting. For some reason reading thru threads here and elsewhere I thought pentax camera division had turned profitable for Hoya, yet it seems Pentax Cameras and Lenses is Hoya's only division that lost money. This is a very good article, a very good read: " Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Hoya Corp., the Japanese lens maker that bought Pentax Corp. for about $1 billion, is prepared to make a similar-sized acquisition to expand its health-care unit. “We will do some M&As,” Chief Operating Officer Hiroshi Hamada said in an interview at the company’s Tokyo headquarters on Oct. 23. Hoya may target assets as large as Pentax or pursue smaller overseas venture-capital firms, he said. An acquisition of a health-care business would help President Hiroshi Suzuki expand the company’s most-profitable division, and build on a strategy that led to the 2007 purchase of endoscope maker Pentax. Hoya is also seeking to partner a consumer-electronics company such as Samsung Electronics Co. to compete with larger rivals in the camera market, Hamada said. “Hoya is a little weak in basic technologies, so it makes sense they’d consider buying a business in order to save development time,” said Mitsuhiro Osawa, an analyst at Ichiyoshi Research Institute Inc. in Tokyo, adding that an acquisition could also help expand distribution channels for medical equipment. “How many doctors do they have connections with? You can’t just build a network overnight.” Hoya, Japan’s largest maker of optical glass, fell 1 percent to close at 1,975 yen in Tokyo trading, compared with a 1.5 percent decline by the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average. The company’s shares have risen 28 percent this year. Hamada, 50, formerly president of Dell Inc.’s Japan unit, took over day-to-day operations at Pentax, Japan’s oldest maker of single-lens reflex cameras, in April 2008 and oversaw the closure of the company’s last domestic digital-camera factory. Partnership For Pentax The Pentax division will have to build a partnership in order to compete with larger rivals in the digital-camera market, Hamada said. Pentax supplies Samsung with single-lens-reflex cameras for sale under the South Korean company’s brand. “I don’t know whether we’ll go with Samsung or somebody else, but I can say that we’ll have a deeper relationship with some electronics guys,” Hamada said. “There will be consolidation in the camera business and a small player like us will be like a small boat on a rough sea. But let me be clear: we will not shut down this business.” Pentax’s sales of 24.6 billion yen ($267 million) in the first quarter were one tenth the 246 billion yen in camera revenue at Canon Inc., the world’s largest maker of the devices. Pentax was the only unprofitable unit among Hoya’s divisions, posting a 941 million yen loss during the quarter ended June 30. Most Profitable Unit The health-care division, which makes contact lenses and surgically implanted lenses, accounted for about 14 percent of the company’s overall sales in the first quarter, up from 10 percent a year earlier. The unit’s 21 percent operating margin in the three months ended June 30 was the highest among Hoya’s biggest businesses. Hoya may post 15 billion yen in operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, for the second quarter, a 60 percent increase from the April-to-June period, the Nikkei newspaper said last week, without saying how it got the information. The Pentax unit likely turned profitable for the first time in seven quarters after the company cut costs by reducing the workforce, the Nikkei said. Hamada declined to comment on the report, citing the company’s media blackout period before the announcement of earnings on Oct. 30. The yen’s 7.4 percent appreciation against the dollar between July 1 and Sept. 30 hasn’t jeopardized the company’s second-quarter net income forecast for 13.5 billion yen, he said. “We downsized out organization much faster than others, so we were kind of ready to deal with the yen,” he said. “It was unfavorable, but we were ready for it. So our financial results will be about where we planned.” To contact the reporters on this story: Jason Clenfield in Tokyo at jclenfield@bloomberg.net; Norihiko Kosaka in Tokyo at nkosaka1@bloomberg.net Last Updated: October 27, 2009 03:28 EDT "

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10-26-2009, 07:44 PM	#2
MikePerham Veteran Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Prince George, BC Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 642	Originally posted by Zarkon There is a good piece on Bloomberg about Hoya's plans. Their CEO talks about another big purchase in the medical industry and also some more details about Pentax's camera division. Definitely not shutting down Pentax but a partnership with an electronics firm is in the cards. Read it here: Hoya Eyes $1 Billion Acquisition to Boost Health-Care Business - Bloomberg.com If there is to be a "deeper relationship" with an electronic company and it is not to be Samsung ...who else is there out there that has any expertise in this specific area (viz: sensors and such). Is Ricoh and electronics company? I know they make photocopiers and the like ...and very good ones at that.

10-26-2009, 08:38 PM	#4
*isteve Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London, England Posts: 1,187	Originally posted by MikePerham If there is to be a "deeper relationship" with an electronic company and it is not to be Samsung ...who else is there out there that has any expertise in this specific area (viz: sensors and such). Is Ricoh and electronics company? I know they make photocopiers and the like ...and very good ones at that. Well this should shut up a few noisy doomsayers... “I don’t know whether we’ll go with Samsung or somebody else, but I can say that we’ll have a deeper relationship with some electronics guys,” Hamada said. “There will be consolidation in the camera business and a small player like us will be like a small boat on a rough sea. But let me be clear: we will not shut down this business.” Fair enough! I think a Samsung partnership is possible - they are now a sensor manufacturer after all and with their LCD technology Pentax would be in great shape. Samsung would have an optics partner - very useful for its disk and mobile phone businesses as well as cameras. But there are other options. Ricoh may partner with Pentax, but not as an electronics partner. They are the biggest photocopier co. in the world but only by acquisition and they dont make sensors, DRAM or LCDs which is what Pentax needs. Samsung make all three. Nor do they have to be a company that makes cameras, only one that makes electronic components and would benefit from a deal with an optics company. Anyone who makes semiconductors can make a CMOS image sensor if someone gives them a design, and Pentax probably have developed the design skills. That would put Hitachi in the frame, and Sanyo or Toshiba or even Fuji. Toshiba already have a joint venture company with Samsung for making storage products (TSST) of which Tosh is a 51% stake holder (so Japanese and US companies DO work together). Tosh also used to make cameras. However, the number of large scale CMOS sensor fabs worldwide that can compete for R&D with Canon and Sony are very few..... Panasonic and Samsung and thats about it.... And dont write off a deal with Sony. Sony's microchip division is a supplier to industry. They already supply Nikon and would probably be happy to supply Pentax, even build to order as they do for Nikon. Last edited by isteve; 10-26-2009 at 08:51 PM.*

10-26-2009, 09:24 PM	#5
LeDave Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Minneapolis - St. Paul Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,067	I hope if they do partner up with Samsung, they don't jack up the price of Pentax lenses by a tenfold, and hopefully they don't produce poorer quality entry-level bodies. I wonder how everything is going to go now, will they keep the Pentax name? Or will they change the name to Samsung or Fuji or something else and still keep the K-mount?

10-26-2009, 11:04 PM	#6
yakiniku Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 74	GO~GO~GO with Fujifilm!!

10-26-2009, 11:16 PM	#7
flippedgazelle Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: NJ, USA Photos: Albums Posts: 1,270	Originally posted by isteve Well this should shut up a few noisy doomsayers... “I don’t know whether we’ll go with Samsung or somebody else, but I can say that we’ll have a deeper relationship with some electronics guys,” Hamada said. “There will be consolidation in the camera business and a small player like us will be like a small boat on a rough sea. But let me be clear: we will not shut down this business.” Fair enough! I think a Samsung partnership is possible - they are now a sensor manufacturer after all and with their LCD technology Pentax would be in great shape. Samsung would have an optics partner - very useful for its disk and mobile phone businesses as well as cameras. But there are other options. Ricoh may partner with Pentax, but not as an electronics partner. They are the biggest photocopier co. in the world but only by acquisition and they dont make sensors, DRAM or LCDs which is what Pentax needs. Samsung make all three. Nor do they have to be a company that makes cameras, only one that makes electronic components and would benefit from a deal with an optics company. Anyone who makes semiconductors can make a CMOS image sensor if someone gives them a design, and Pentax probably have developed the design skills. That would put Hitachi in the frame, and Sanyo or Toshiba or even Fuji. Toshiba already have a joint venture company with Samsung for making storage products (TSST) of which Tosh is a 51% stake holder (so Japanese and US companies DO work together). Tosh also used to make cameras. However, the number of large scale CMOS sensor fabs worldwide that can compete for R&D with Canon and Sony are very few..... Panasonic and Samsung and thats about it.... And dont write off a deal with Sony. Sony's microchip division is a supplier to industry. They already supply Nikon and would probably be happy to supply Pentax, even build to order as they do for Nikon. Fuji would be interesting - they have their "Super CCD" technology, and have a history of partnering in the DLSR world (Nikon). Fuji also has some (OK, just a little) mindshare in the P&S arena, whereas Pentax has virtually zilch. Canon gets huge boost because of this, and so does Nikon. Pentax could do worse than be the top "niche" brand - WR bodies and lenses, high-DR (Fuji) sensors, unique & desirable primes... they could be the Subaru of the camera world. Last edited by flippedgazelle; 10-26-2009 at 11:22 PM.*

10-27-2009, 12:41 AM	#8
Kunzite Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Romania Posts: 15,132	You mean, they're not desperate to sell Pentax? Building a partnership instead? What a surprise!

10-27-2009, 02:52 AM	#9
gazonk Pentaxian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Oslo area, Norway Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,746	How about Casio? They seem to be very successful in the compact camera market, and already has or had some cooperation with Pentax (Pentax used to make their lenses, don't know if they do any more). But how much of their fancy electronics (the high speed cameras) do Casio make themselves?

10-27-2009, 03:34 AM	#10
dangie New Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Staffordshire England Posts: 16	I'm not very knowledgable on business matters, but from what I saw with Pentax's venture with Samsung, it doesn't matter one jot who you are teamed up with, even if they are the largest electronics manufacturer in the world, if you can't get the public to buy the product then that's it. You've had it. Customers were still buying Canon and Nikon and now Sony. Not Pentax/Samsung. Teaming up with Ricoh, Casio, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sanyo etc etc won't change Pentax's fortunes one bit.

10-27-2009, 06:18 AM	#12
barondla Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: midwest, United States Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,714	Sharp might be a possibility. They have incredible lcd technology. Have to wonder about LG. They are watching Samsung closely. thanks barondla Check out the WINNERS of POINT & SHOOT CONTEST #24 in the COMPACT CAMERA FORUM. Enter #25. Any brand camera. Enter now!

10-27-2009, 06:34 AM	#13
Sailor Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Coastal Texas Photos: Gallery Posts: 26,205	Originally posted by Zarkon There is a good piece on Bloomberg about Hoya's plans. Their CEO talks about another big purchase in the medical industry and also some more details about Pentax's camera division. Definitely not shutting down Pentax but a partnership with an electronics firm is in the cards. Read it here: Hoya Eyes $1 Billion Acquisition to Boost Health-Care Business - Bloomberg.com Thanks much for posting this. Hamada's comments echo ones from Suzuki earlier: essentially, profitability can be restored by coast cutting but Pentax Imaging is too small to be sustainable without a partnership. Hamada's further elaboration that the partner would be a consumer electronics company is unsurprising, but interesting nonetheless. His mention that there will be "consolidation in the camera business" is also interesting. Again thanks for posting the link. Jer

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10-27-2009, 07:17 AM	#14
Pål Jensen Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Norway Photos: Albums Posts: 4,371	Originally posted by *isteve That would put Hitachi in the frame, and Sanyo or Toshiba or even Fuji. Toshiba already have a joint venture company with Samsung for making storage products (TSST) of which Tosh is a 51% stake holder (so Japanese and US companies DO work together). Tosh also used to make cameras. . Pentax had a very close relationship with Toshiba in the past....

10-27-2009, 07:33 AM	#15
Pål Jensen Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Norway Photos: Albums Posts: 4,371	Originally posted by Samsungian For some reason reading thru threads here and elsewhere I thought pentax camera division had turned profitable for Hoya, yet it seems Pentax Cameras and Lenses is Hoya's only division that lost money. " Pentax is EXPECTED to make profit next quarter according to Hoya. Pentax is doing much better than Nikon and Sony.....