[JHD]

Olympus Corp.’s capital adequacy ratio at the end of June was a slim 2.2 percent, down from 4.6 percent three months earlier, it reported in quarterly results Aug. 9. Capital adequacy measures how much capital a company holds to cover risky assets.

The medical equipment and camera maker said the strong yen had slashed the value of its overseas assets by 16.4 billion yen ($209 million) from the end of March.

Olympus officials warned if the yen strengthens further the company might be unable to cover its liabilities by the end of September.

Olympus warns of dangerously low capital reserves - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

They're working on it:

Olympus officials say they hope to receive 50 billion yen in investment and boost the company’s capital adequacy ratio to a target of 10 percent by the end of September.

[Rondec]

I definitely expect Olympus to be bought up (maybe split up?) before all is said and done. It has been discussed here before, but maybe Panasonic would be interested the camera side of things would seem to mesh well, but the medical imaging side, not so much.

[Medium FormatPro]

This article along with many other factors... Anyone want to take the bet that Olympus will not be around in eleven months from now?

The ship is sinking too fast and there just aren't enough buckets.

[roentarre]

I thought their sales had been picking up lately...

[philbaum]

I definitely expect Olympus to be bought up (maybe split up?) before all is said and done. It has been discussed here before, but maybe Panasonic would be interested the camera side of things would seem to mesh well, but the medical imaging side, not so much.

I won't take that bet - i think they've been toast since the fraud scandal news broke. Defrauding investors doesn't encourage help the next time a company needs it. I'm not sure it makes sense for Panasonic to buy the camera part since they lost money last year as well.

[snake]

This article along with many other factors... Anyone want to take the bet that Olympus will not be around in eleven months from now?

The ship is sinking too fast and there just aren't enough buckets.

I'll take the bet that they will be, bought by a competitor or a partner. Problem is they have little in terms of technology that's money in the bank for a purchaser. They pretty much have everything every other company has, aside from Panasonic sensors. Medical will be spun off and the imaging will go to Fuji, Panasonic (maybe as a collaboration with Leica). Doubtful Ricoh has the resources, but would be interesting, nonetheless.

[Adam G]

Would they consider licensing out their JPEG engine and 5-axis IBIS system?

One of the biggest criticisms of Samsung's NX series is their sub-par JPEG engine.

[Clicker]

Hope they don't drag Panasonic down with them .

[RonHendriks1966]

They are still loosing money and the cameramarket is shrinking at the time due to lack off money for consumers. I see them sinking.

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

One would expect users of a brand that changed hands twice in the past 5 years to be more optimistic.

[rawr]

So maybe Hoya will buy Olympus?

[Verglace]

Pretty sad news, the OM-D is actually a very great camera (in fact, I wished pentax made it instead of the k-01), I was hoping it would be enough to pull them out of their troubles.

[Rondec]

One would expect users of a brand that changed hands twice in the past 5 years to be more optimistic.

There is no doubt that Pentax as a camera makera has had some serious questions about their future -- particularly when Hoya took over. I had actually thought that Samsung would eventually inherit the K mount and Pentax would step out of making cameras. Fortunately, that hasn't happened and I think Ricoh is strengthening the brand at this point.

The big concern with Olympus is their past pattern of deception. It really turns off investors who have an inherent lack of trust after such a debacle. As a company, even if your are losing money, you are best off reporting that fact, or you will end up going the way of Enron.

[LaurenOE]

Olympus medical is bigger than Pentax medical, so I am sure someone will buy that side of the house. I'm not sure anyone would really want the camera side as they have nothing exceptional like the K-mount. I'd take the bet they go under and broken up. Maybe Apple will buy the camera side or some other wild card. If not? Bye Bye Olympus cameras.