Canon Sales Continue to Plummet

The mirrorless sales in Japan were down by 62% in May. It was a full quarantine month there and second in a row.

Of course, they were down 74% in April.

By comparison, smartphone sales are expected to fall by about 20% globally. Then again, for most, a smartphone is not a luxury item.
 
And, as predicted by many - namely, me, me and me - Olympus closed down/sold its photography business to an investment fund that specializes in turnarounds (JIP, aka the Japanese Industrial Partners).

My prescription for Olympus is roughly the same as it was for Samsung.

Olympus did copy Samsung in one thing : denying the photo-video business was going under.
 
DLD said:
And, as predicted by many - namely, me, me and me - Olympus closed down/sold its photography business to an investment fund that specializes in turnarounds (JIP, aka the Japanese Industrial Partners)...
Click to expand...

Oh mighty soothsayer, tell me what the Dow is going to do day by day for the next year. The Dow's current price makes no sense. It has to crash. If one could predict these 1000 point moves every day, they'd clean up.

I'm surprised anyone bought the camera division. I forgot about Zuiko. Maybe that's where the value is.
 
Speaking as an Olympus Visionary.....

Closed down isn’t the same as sold off. I expect the Olympus brand still exists as an optics and camera company. There’s now a seperate (and far more profitable) medical imaging business called Olympus.

It’s unclear what will happen now, but I suspect you don’t “buy” a business to simply loose money. They may spin off their IP, they may try to restructure and they may indeed run it into the ground. As an optics company they also OEM a lot of lenses fo other “names” you might know.

I feel for my friends at Olympus, many of whom I’ve worked with for a number of years. Olympus have a long history of innovation and firsts. I hope this is just renewal.

JB
 
I was on a team that evaluated two companies that were our competitors for acquisition. The interrogation to evaluate the company is really tough on the division being sold. I interrogated a CEO who normally had a big ego. He was a broken spirit at the interrogation. Once we had all the information about the operation, the next step was to figure out how to strip it down into something useful. We evaluated what we would keep and what we would throw out; how many people we could lay off and still keep what we wanted. It was a cold, heartless evaluation. People were simply numbers in a spreadsheet.
 
Paul F said:
Oh mighty soothsayer, tell me what the Dow is going to do day by day for the next year. The Dow's current price makes no sense. It has to crash. If one could predict these 1000 point moves every day, they'd clean up...
Click to expand...
Presuming a zero interest rate - or, below zero, if you account for the inflation - I predict Dow hitting the heights not seen since the days of the Weimar Republic.

John Brawley said:
... It’s unclear what will happen now, but I suspect you don’t “buy” a business to simply loose money. They may spin off their IP, they may try to restructure and they may indeed run it into the ground. As an optics company they also OEM a lot of lenses fo other “names” you might know.

JB
Click to expand...

In order to survive, their best bet is to get out of the cartel because, regardless of the sensor hand-me-downs from Sony, their pricing structure made no sense either. When the entry level full frame begins at $900, you don't charge $1,800 for an MFT with a lesser resolution.

Now, there is a possibility that the market will come down to the MFT levels, if the alliance incorporates that 41 MPX Sony sensor much in the same way the automobile market moved down to the 2L-3L turbos - you can get more HP but the marginal benefits are getting smaller and smaller.

PS. I was talking to a friend of mine a few days ago, who said that his long time dream was to drive a 911. So, with his college age son insistence, they rented a Targa for a day. His summary - it's not for the city driving. To borrow from an argument on the adjacent thread, 911 is a 150 MPX camera. It's a dream for some but a surplus to requirement to others. The others can get by with a 41 MPX MFT.

PPS. Now, my friend has his eyes set on the Geländewagen. Because bus conversions are too chic.
 
Paul F said:
I was on a team that evaluated two companies that were our competitors for acquisition. The interrogation to evaluate the company is really tough on the division being sold. I interrogated a CEO who normally had a big ego. He was a broken spirit at the interrogation. Once we had all the information about the operation, the next step was to figure out how to strip it down into something useful. We evaluated what we would keep and what we would throw out; how many people we could lay off and still keep what we wanted. It was a cold, heartless evaluation. People were simply numbers in a spreadsheet.
Click to expand...

Now that all sounds like the Fortune 500s I've worked for. That's my issue with corporate America. It's a system and as long as you know your net worth and usefulness as an employee and know and understand you are an expendable,
not really an employee in the traditional sense, you can do very well mucking about working for different companies.

It's the employees who go into working for corporations right out of school and still have the outmode idea that they are valued who are in for a rough ride. The days of "building a career" with any organization are over.
The ones who do best are the ones who build their intrinsic value in their unique skill set, know how to leverage and play corporate politics who can do very well. Always have an exit strategy and a plan B and C and you can
do very well. Think that you are going to spend your entire or most of your career in one org and you are setting yourself up for a world of hurt and disappointment.

There are always a fresh crop of MBAs from the Ivy Leagues ready to swoop in at any moment. Once you are in your 30s or older, have a wife, kids, mortgage, you want a life outside of work.
You have zero chance of competing with a 25 year old with an MBA who doesn't have a life and is willing to put in 70 hours per week to climb the ladder. Older = complacent with most people
and the younger, hungry ones are going to have the olds for lunch. It's just the way of the world. The youngs will work harder for less money, don't have Soccer games and sick kids to deal with
at home.
 
Yep. Pretty inhumane system.
moloch-better.jpg
MT1-Caught-in-the-machine-1000.jpg
Those images are of factories, but you're feeding the machine whether it's an office or a factory.

I read an article in recent years about how rural agricultural communities have been hollowed out by big farms. The few farmers still going were barely getting by with exploitative contracts with the big companies.

They interviewed one guy who said he started raising fancy hogs and selling them for a price instead of taking a wage contract with a big company. More risk that way but more reward and independence. "Capitalism at its best," he said. Kinda like what we do as freelancers.
 
There is no longer a need to work for the man. Bald and Bankrupt my friends. Bald and Bankrupt. He is the new model. His channel is growing at about 10,000 subs a day. All you need is a sparkling personality, unabashed enthusiasm, the confidence of a demigod, and a gift of gab.

Why slug it out looking for clients when you can open a Youtube channel? I'm starting the Old Fart channel. I'll be an influencer for adult diapers, the best knee replacement, and which bran muffin will get you going again. I've got Depends, the American Medical Association, and AARP signed up.
 
Paul F said:
There is no longer a need to work for the man. Bald and Bankrupt my friends. Bald and Bankrupt. He is the new model. His channel is growing at about 10,000 subs a day. All you need is a sparkling personality, unabashed enthusiasm, the confidence of a demigod, and a gift of gab.

Why slug it out looking for clients when you can open a Youtube channel? I'm starting the Old Fart channel. I'll be an influencer for adult diapers, the best knee replacement, and which bran muffin will get you going again. I've got Depends, the American Medical Association, and AARP signed up.
Click to expand...

I'll watch it.
 
So, to bring up Olympus again (on the Canon thread) - different folks across the webs looked into the JIP MO and precedents. Off those, the conclusion is that they're likely to break up the remaining assets and sell bits and pieces to whoever. The manufacturing plants might go to someone with a low cost production facility. Olympus moved its plant to Vietnam anyway. Other facilities might be sold off as real estate. Equipment, patents will go to the highest bidder.

According to other rumors, most Olympus engineers have already moved on, either internally to the medical or to other companies.
 
DLD said:
So, to bring up Olympus again (on the Canon thread) - different folks across the webs looked into the JIP MO and precedents. Off those, the conclusion is that they're likely to break up the remaining assets and sell bits and pieces to whoever. The manufacturing plants might go to someone with a low cost production facility. Olympus moved its plant to Vietnam anyway. Other facilities might be sold off as real estate. Equipment, patents will go to the highest bidder.

According to other rumors, most Olympus engineers have already moved on, either internally to the medical or to other companies.
Click to expand...

End of an era. Olympus has been a camera brand for my entire life as a photographer and video shooter.
 
puredrifting said:
End of an era. Olympus has been a camera brand for my entire life as a photographer and video shooter.
Click to expand...

It is the end of an era but the name will likely live on the same way many brands have found a new lease on life in Far Asia or Central America.

Of course, it's also possible that soon "Olympus" will be stitched onto everything from underpants to luggage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top