[wombat2go]

latest:
Olympus says tie-up offers under consideration, cuts jobs | Reuters

[Nesster]

In its five-year business plan, Olympus will aim to sell peripheral businesses and cut the number of factories to 18 from the current 30, it said. The company calls the medical, life and industrial sciences, and imaging divisions as its core businesses.

Olympus will also shed 2,700 jobs, or 7 percent of its total workforce, mostly overseas in its manufacturing operations. It will spend a total of 15 billion yen over the five years for the restructuring.

The firm said it plans to bring its camera business back to profitability in the current financial year ending March 2013, while aiming to nearly double its operating profit for its medical business in five years to 126 billion yen.

From our camera nut POV we focus on the cameras, but in the business world looks like - as usual - the medical equipment stuff subsidizes the cameras. I do hope Olympus manages to bring the camera division back to profitability.

[eddie1960]

From our camera nut POV we focus on the cameras, but in the business world looks like - as usual - the medical equipment stuff subsidizes the cameras. I do hope Olympus manages to bring the camera division back to profitability.

So do I, though he comments from them seem a little delusional on their ability to raise the capital. Almost guaranteed it will be an alliance that cedes a large number of shares (likely in majority ownership territory given the amount of capital needed) it's just who it will be with, and whether they will leverage that to strip the company of it's assets down the line and shed the unprofitable aspects
If it was a North American company buying in breakup and stripping of value would be almost certain. Since it will almost certainly be a large Japanese company that is less likely. Of all he names bandied about so far I think Fiji is in the best position to do it. Sony is a financial mess, Panasonic is huge (matsushita) but are struggling right now on the profit front. The Terumo Corp deal would likely be like the Hoya Pentax deal they are a medical company and likely would want to get rid of the camera division ASAP, I wonder who the 4th Japanese company offering a deal is? Ricoh has been on a buying spree lately but i doubt it would be them (though operating profit alone in any of the last 3 years exceeded $700M and cash reserves are still big enough)

[RioRico]

But as far as the olympus name goes - this may well be the last full year to see their name on consumer cameras and lens'

This assumes that whomever buys Olympus' consumer divisions decides to shitcan a prominent brand name. Brand ID is valuable. I expect the buyout wonks to carefully evaluate just what the Olympus name is worth. We shall see...

[séamuis]

I'll work on trying to find a link to this one; which wil be quite difficult.

But as far as the olympus name goes - this may well be the last full year to see their name on consumer cameras and lens'

everyone said that when Hoya bought out Pentax Corp. didn't happen. everyone said the same thing when Ricoh bought Pentax camera division. didn't happen. as pointed out above, brand recognition has its own value. often times a value worth more than the actual company behind the name. in the case of a buyout, this is very important. my view is, just like with Pentax, the Olympus name will live on. what gets churned out with the name on it remains to be seen, but you don't buy up something and destroy a valuable name. its not smart business.

[philbaum]

So do I, though he comments from them seem a little delusional on their ability to raise the capital....

Olympus was the biggest Japanese fraud in decades. The replacement manager hired to fix the fraud, Michael Woodford from Britain, then uncovered even more fraudulant payments, demanded answers and was then fired by the board, had his life threatened and was told to leave Japan. As of May 29th, Olympus settled with Woodford to end Woodford's lawsuit against Olympus for unfair dismissal and defamation. Woodford has already written one book about the situation called "Termination" and is writing a second. The 1.7 billion defrauding of shareholders is reported to go back 10 years. 2 of the original board who were involved in the fraud, are reportedly still on the Board.

My point is, why would any other Japanese camera company want to tarnish their own reputations by bringing Olympus intact under their roof. Doesn't make sense to me.

I agree, sounds delusional to me as well. Once you have defrauded shareholders for 10 years, why would anyone want to invest in their company again?? The dismissal of Woodford and the tawdry series of Board actions thereafter, just empasizes how deep the roots of corruption extend.

I think Olympus is going to get broken up into pieces and sold off. Their "valuable" name now has a stain on it that maynot be able to be cleaned. With other Japanese camera companies also in financial trouble from the recession, competition problems and storm damage, the government and banks might just be weary of one more takeover. Just speculation on my part, however.

[eddie1960]

the scary part is there is still anyone senior who was involved in the fraud still having a voice in the company. guess it's hard to fire Yakuza
it really is a total bloody mess. OTOH until the recent successes with micro 4/3 Oly as a camera company struggled for most of that same time frame

[RioRico]

the scary part is there is still anyone senior who was involved in the fraud still having a voice in the company. guess it's hard to fire Yakuza

I have previously suggested that Olympus rename their lenses from Zuiko to Yakuzar. This was prompted by seeing some Taks mis-listed as Yakumars. Just a great name for a mafiya lens line, eh?

But I digress. I recall reading of Yakuza ties to the ruling party. A little government influence can go a long long ways, eh? So Oly may not be just too BIG to fail -- it may be too BAD to fail. Stay tuned.

I think Olympus is going to get broken up into pieces and sold off. Their "valuable" name now has a stain on it that maynot be able to be cleaned.

The Oly name is stained... for those of us who pay attention. I suspect that most consumers don't. I suspect the vast majority of Oly buyers worldwide have no idea of the corruption and criminality.

[Blue]

From our camera nut POV we focus on the cameras, but in the business world looks like - as usual - the medical equipment stuff subsidizes the cameras. I do hope Olympus manages to bring the camera division back to profitability.

With Olympus, it isn't just medical gear, they are a major microscope manufacturer. I have a very nice Olympus Phase-Contrast scope in my office with a trinoc setup for Pentax and Nikon dSLR bodies.

[ChrisPlatt]

Get your OM-D now, folks...

Chris

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

I do hope Olympus manages to bring the camera division back to profitability.

What makes you think they are not profitable now? The company isn't in trouble because of its camera division.

[Medium FormatPro]

This assumes that whomever buys Olympus' consumer divisions decides to shitcan a prominent brand name. Brand ID is valuable. I expect the buyout wonks to carefully evaluate just what the Olympus name is worth. We shall see...

Whatever happened to the Minolta name?

Yes I'm well aware of how the name and camera line were absorbed into another company. But guess what Minolta was a larger name than Olympus is now.

They don't care about names - it's all about numbers. Now if only I could find which Pan-Am gate my flight is leaving from

[Rondec]

What makes you think they are not profitable now? The company isn't in trouble because of its camera division.

From what I have read, Olympus has not made a profit on cameras (despite decent sales) for several years. They are basically in a similar situation to Pentax pre-Hoya with the only divison doing particularly well is the medical division. They do have assets though and in a fire-sale, someone might be interested in picking them up.

[Mistral75]

What makes you think they are not profitable now? The company isn't in trouble because of its camera division.

Fiscal year ending in March 2012

Medical Business

- Net Sales: ¥349.2bn
- Operating Income: ¥68.2bn
- Operating Margin: 20%

Imaging Business

- Net Sales: ¥128.6bn
- Operating Income: ¥(10.8)bn (negative)
- Operating Margin: -8%

Life Science and Industrial Businesses

- Net Sales: ¥92.4bn
- Operating Income: ¥5.4bn
- Operating Margin: 6%

See for http://www.olympus-global.com/en/corc/ir/tes/pdf/nr120608.pdf for further details.

[RioRico]

Whatever happened to the Minolta name?

Unique situation. Konica-Minolta sold the imaging division to Sony, but not the name. I suspect Sony wasn't happy with that mandate. It wasn't a matter of the buyer suppressing the name. Konica had acquired Minolta and wanted to keep that name. So be it. We can't use that as a model for further transactions. As mentioned, neither Hoya nor Ricoh eliminated the Pentax name. I could cite numerous examples in many industries of takeovers that left brand names intact -- and many others that didn't. It depends on what the buyers think it's worth.