[Mistral75]

Mizuho Securities have a stake in Japan Industrial Partners (JIP).

https://privatefunddata.com/fund-companies/japan-industrial-partners-inc/

This means JIP are part of the Sumitomo Mitsui keiretsu together with Fujifilm, Olympus and Sony.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu

JIP relieved:

• Olympus from their mobile phone business;
  
• Sony from their PC business; and soon
  
• Olympus from their imaging business.
  

One big happy family...

[Klaus]

I'm working for a JP IT company in my other life. One thing is for sure - Japan is different from the rest of the world.
Western business practices are not necessarily in line with "our" expectations.
Thus commenting about this move from a western perspective can be very misleading.

However, whatever it'll mean in the end - it's a disaster. Because western customers see this message and stop purchasing their products.
Which will accelerate the demise, of course.

[thxbb12]

An interesting take by Thom Hogan: https://www.sansmirror.com/newsviews/2020-mirrorless-camera/so-why-did-olympus-fail.html

[Klaus]

I'm still baffled that comparatively few photographers appreciate the low package size that MFT can give you.
Only Sony E comes close but Sony's APS-C G lenses are even more expensive - let alone that there are only a handful.
Fuji zoom lenses are big. EOS M is not really a system to talk about - although it would have potential if Canon hadn't forgotten about its existence.

[Kunzite]

A crazy thought would be that Ricoh could buy them.
Obviously Pentax is in dire need of a mirrorless system - and there's one available for little money. Maybe even for free.
They would be able to consolidate their sales and servicing across the two systems - thus reducing costs.

But yes, it's a crazy thought ...

I disagree.
"Pentax" is in no particular need of a mirrorless system.
Pentax is a Ricoh Imaging brand, one closely tied to DSLRs. Ricoh Imaging is not doing bad, they found a winning recipe with the Theta and GR lines.
Olympus' Imaging division is not cheap, but very expensive to "fix" - if possible at all. Last thing Ricoh Imaging needs, is to start making 157 million $ losses per year.

Sorry. It seems no Japanese company wants to "save" Olympus' Imaging division - just like they didn't with Samsung's.

[mike]

I'm still baffled that comparatively few photographers appreciate the low package size that MFT can give you.
Only Sony E comes close but Sony's APS-C G lenses are even more expensive - let alone that there are only a handful.
Fuji zoom lenses are big. EOS M is not really a system to talk about - although it would have potential if Canon hadn't forgotten about its existence.

Right? I lent my camera to friend who told me it was too small. I kept wondering compared to what? She's my age, so she remembers shooting manual focus film cameras.

I also thought the Fuji bodies were quite heavy.

[davidmanze]

A crazy thought would be that Ricoh could buy them.
Obviously Pentax is in dire need of a mirrorless system - and there's one available for little money. Maybe even for free.
They would be able to consolidate their sales and servicing across the two systems - thus reducing costs.

But yes, it's a crazy thought ...

I disagree.
"Pentax" is in no particular need of a mirrorless system.
Pentax is a Ricoh Imaging brand, one closely tied to DSLRs. Ricoh Imaging is not doing bad, they found a winning recipe with the Theta and GR lines.
Olympus' Imaging division is not cheap, but very expensive to "fix" - if possible at all. Last thing Ricoh Imaging needs, is to start making 157 million $ losses per year.

Sorry. It seems no Japanese company wants to "save" Olympus' Imaging division - just like they didn't with Samsung's.

Agreed !!!

Apparently Olympus put it out that the company as up for sale with no takers .....

..... I can't imagine Ricoh even considering the idea ...... they know how to ride things when times are tight ... Olympus didn't !!

[Kunzite]

Agreed !!!

Apparently Olympus put it out that the company as up for sale with no takers .....

..... I can't imagine Ricoh even considering the idea ...... they know how to ride things when times are tight ... Olympus didn't !!

Too bad, they had some neat optics... but they were too ambitious, trying to play the big guys' game with the smallest format.