Tag Archives: Micro Four Thirds is dead

I told you so: Olympus to exit/sell camera business

I took a lot of heat from fanboys when I reported last year that Olympus will exit the camera business (feel free to read some of the comments to this post). After years of bad financial results and bad publicity, today Olympus announced that they will sell their camera business by the end of the year. […]

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Micro Four Thirds has the biggest market share by lens mount in Japan for 2019 with 19.8%

Olympus and Panasonic jointly announced that the Micro Four Thirds system took the #1 market share by lens mount in Japan with 19.8% (based on the number of digital interchangeable lens cameras sold in Japan by lens mount): Micro Four Thirds further expands the possibilities of enjoyment and utilization of video by developing the lineup […]

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Olympus Q3 financial results are out: Imaging Division revenue down by another 9%, 2020 forecast has been revised downward

Olympus released their Q3 financial results. Imaging Division revenue is down by another 9% and the 2020 forecast has been furhter revised downward (see previous Olympus financial results):

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Olympus president: “we need a video business” *UPDATED*

The Japanese website Newswitch (part of Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, one of the leading daily newspapers in Japan) published an article called “Large deficit camera business, criteria to determine whether Olympus will withdraw or survive” (Google translation) where the Olympus president Yasuo Takeuchi was quoted saying that Olympus needs a video business: “To maximize Olympus’ corporate value, we need a […]

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Olympus lens price increase coming in February 2020

Olympus is going to increase the price of selected lenses on February 1, 2020: The price increase is for Japan, but I believe it will spread to all markets. Olympus mentioned “raw material costs” as a reason for the price increase, but I think the real reason is the poor financial results in the past […]

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Bloomberg: Olympus may cut jobs, CEO backtracked previous comments that camera business was not for sale, saying that’s no longer the case

Ok, no rumors this time – this is coming directly from Olympus Chief Executive Officer Yasuo Takeuchi: Olympus Corp. is considering job cuts as the medical device and camera maker pushes forward with plans to almost double operating margin in the medium term, Chief Executive Officer Yasuo Takeuchi said. “The issue of personnel will naturally need to […]

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Olympus: we will continue to work on improving the profitability and efficiency of the Imaging Business

This is the “official answer” to the Olympus shutting down their camera business rumor, given by an Olympus representative and reported by Sina Finance: “The Imaging business has always been the driving force of technology, including imaging technology and mass production technology, and has made tremendous contributions to the Medical and Scientific Solutions businesses. As […]

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Rumors: Olympus to shut down camera division in less than 8 months

From PersonalView – “Olympus closure is near, can happen in less than 8 months”: “It is total instability now in camera division, in various countries people are running and looking for new positions. Lot of rumors and talks that we can hear sudden closure press release within January-March time. Some talks are that development team and […]

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