[mike]

"It looks like it is still going to be business as usual this year regarding Olympus" 
 
  I doubt that very much .... selling off stock ...... at cut prices ...... but who's going to spend out on a doomed system ?

Olympus won't want to be spending good money after bad ...... they are in damage limitation mode!!

Business as usual as in that they will still deliver the lenses etc. that already are in the pipeline, like the 150-400, etc.

That's basically what my source told me.

As to spending good money after bad, best read up on the Japanese way of working and what they have to do and cannot do. They cannot stop the process from one day to next, which is why they have to sell to a company like JIP. It is a bit different to, e.g, US companies.

Regards, Wim

First off, in today's business world it's not unusual for a company to "spin off" part of their business. A lot of companies that were once viewed as computer companies sold off their computer division and you can still buy them. Second, I worked for a company that a equity firms became the biggest shareholder. Everyone thought it was doom and gloom. They are now a Nadaq100 and S&P500 company.

[davidmanze]

News report from the Korea Times;

[url=https://www.diyphotography.net/olympus-is-for-real-this-time-shutting-down-its-camera-business-in-korea/][/url]Olympus is (for real this time) shutting down its camera ...






21 mai 2020 - Olympus has announced that it is withdrawing from the camera business in South Korea due to “mostly” low camera sales volume, according to a report from The Korea Times. In a statement, Olympus Korea has said that it will “cease its imaging business in Korea, effective June 30, 2020”.

[Klaus]

That's not news anymore ;-)

---

"It looks like it is still going to be business as usual this year regarding Olympus" 
 
  I doubt that very much .... selling off stock ...... at cut prices ...... but who's going to spend out on a doomed system ?

Olympus won't want to be spending good money after bad ...... they are in damage limitation mode!!

Business as usual as in that they will still deliver the lenses etc. that already are in the pipeline, like the 150-400, etc.

That's basically what my source told me.

As to spending good money after bad, best read up on the Japanese way of working and what they have to do and cannot do. They cannot stop the process from one day to next, which is why they have to sell to a company like JIP. It is a bit different to, e.g, US companies.

Regards, Wim

First off, in today's business world it's not unusual for a company to "spin off" part of their business. A lot of companies that were once viewed as computer companies sold off their computer division and you can still buy them. Second, I worked for a company that a equity firms became the biggest shareholder. Everyone thought it was doom and gloom. They are now a Nadaq100 and S&P500 company.

JIP is worth $150mio ... so how much can they possibly invest into the Olympus Imaging division ...?
Unless there are further investors or Olympus remains a major shareholder, there isn't much hope I'd say.

[toni-a]

They could easily sell Olympus to a Chinese company growing on photography business : They have the money and eagerly need a renowned brand name, Yongnuo,Viltrox or even DJI would have been a better solution....

[Brightcolours]

I do not think that a Japanese optics company would want to sell itself to China... They would rather just stop to exist.

[Klaus]

Indeed

[davidmanze]

They could "easily sell" Olympus to a Chinese company growing on photography business : They have the money and eagerly need a renowned brand name, Yongnuo, Viltrox or even DJI  would have been a better solution....

   These third party lens manufacturers are having a nice time picking up business from OEMs without any of the risk of the massive investment of time and money required from designing better and competitive cameras ..... in this receding market ........

..... they would rather let the camera manufacturers put their heads in the lion's mouth !!

  DJI is a less questionable one with Hassleblad as they leave all the design and production work to Hassleblad themselves ..... and I'm not excluding them from risk either .... things have been quite there recently.

I can't think of a more difficult risky and capricious market to be in than camera manufacture at this current time!!

[thxbb12]

They could "easily sell" Olympus to a Chinese company growing on photography business : They have the money and eagerly need a renowned brand name, Yongnuo, Viltrox or even DJI  would have been a better solution....

   These third party lens manufacturers are having a nice time picking up business from OEMs without any of the risk of the massive investment of time and money required from designing better and competitive cameras ..... in this receding market ........

..... they would rather let the camera manufacturers put their heads in the lion's mouth !!

  DJI is a less questionable one with Hassleblad as they leave all the design and production work to Hassleblad themselves ..... and I'm not excluding them from risk either .... things have been quite there recently.

I can't think of a more difficult risky and capricious market to be in than camera manufacture at this current time!!

Agreed.
The true need for "real" cameras is diminishing extremely rapidly.
Soon, only certain niches will be left.
At the pace technology is advancing, even these niches might not be enough.
Bottom line: it sucks big time

[toni-a]

As I expect things to go, since no more investments in research and development and since the robots for manufacturing camera parts are already there, Olympus will continue manufacturing their current line of actual cameras for some time, since costs are far less they cam sell the cameras for much less playing the low prices game
it will allow them to survive for a year or two

[mike]

A good discussion.

I tend to use the hell out of everything I buy before "upgrading." I think I have all the lenses I need at this point. My thought is to keep an eye on M1III or an M5III prices. Maybe even pick up a lightly used version from someone who is reading all this and hitting the panic button. As a user and a non-chaser of every new incremental change a product makes, by the time I'm ready to part ways with gear the price usually isn't even worth my time to sell.