How to save Olympus (Koji Miyata). Let’s support him!
Things are still not going well for Olympus. The once proud Japanese camera and medical equipment maker Olympus is readying to take legal action against its own executives. Any executive found to have been complicit in its multi-million dollar accounting scandal will be hit with legal action as well as possible criminal complaints, according to Reuters (via Electronista). And the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has confirmed that it has launched an official investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing at Olympus (via AP).
But there is a massive positive reaction coming from Olympus employees: Koji Miyata is leading the olympusgrassroots.com campaign. I linked to the website two days ago and Koji now reports that there has been a “larger-than-expected response“. Super! And he outlines the things to do now:
“Overcoming that crisis in the limited time available will require resolute action. Our efforts need to focus on the following three initiatives.
– Apologize to Michael for the baseless aspersions cast on his character by Olympus executives.
– Call on Michael to return to Olympus and resume his duties as president.
– Begin working immediately to position Olympus as a world-class model of corporate excellence, including excellence in complying with the highest standards of corporate ethics.”
I am sure 99,99% of the company is healthy and 99,99% of Olympus employees are doing an incredible good job. 43rumors is only a very small website, but if Olympus employees are reading me I want to make it clear that I will fully support them in any way I can do it! Many companies went through tuff crisis and when you come out from them usually things will do much better than before!
P.S.: The Online Photographer also called all Olympus supporter for unite!
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Comment from tofino: Of course profits aren't sales. Do you c...
Ton
7 months ago |Amen to these! Our little voice are our small steps to the right direction. Looking forward to a brighter future to all of us!!!
alexander
7 months ago |In my opinion Olympus has still the best base/ concept to build the best cameras.
Just bring the viewfinder & the panorama function & there will be no more crisis!
YouDidntDidYou
7 months ago |Olympus shares have jumped and may avoid de-listing and they may “just” get a fine (with conditions attached), it looks like they may live another day due to their strong cash flow, dominant market position in endoscopes and there resurgent Micro Four sales
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/9945462
so maybe the outlook for Olympus is looking brighter???
Dummy00001
7 months ago |> so maybe the outlook for Olympus is looking brighter???
OMG, have you all missed the comments made by Japanese PM??
Comments themselves are unimportant (usual political bla-bla-bla), but the point is that the Oly’s case became more political than financial, as it cast a shadow on all Japanese business.
Now that politicians keep an eye on the case, there are two possible outcomes: Oly as a whole made a scapegoat or only some people from Oly are made scapegoats.
The former is unlikely as it would still impact negatively the ratings.
The latter is much more likelier: several Oly top managers + probably few auditors would be found guilty and thus the story would be proclaimed to end well and we all should go back trusting Japanese companies handling our investments.
The most troubling part is that amidst all the Olympus’ crisis, I haven’t even once heard that state officials plan to improve legislations to avoid such cases in the future. (My search over at the Google News fetched no results. Essentially the only result is the old article from Oct 26th: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/26/us-olympus-governance-newspro-idUSTRE79P57I20111026 )
P.S. Another view on the Olympus crisis: “medical business too big to fail”, “no one loves the company, but everyone loves its business”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/11/us-olympus-future-f-idUSTRE7AA2E620111111?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=71
YouDidntDidYou
7 months ago |@Dummy0001
I’m pretty sure that it’s Western companies who are the main users of banking facilities in the Cayman Islands, Belize, Delaware, Bermuda etc and not Japanese.
Also both auditors were Western companies and what real action did they take?
Looking at the financial crisis and dire straights in Western Europe and the the USA I would hardly say the way their model is really a success.
Esa Tuunanen
7 months ago |Yep, like Italy’s case… I guess everyone knows where moneys are after country being run by plain criminal mafioso for so long.
Or connections of most European politicians to economical elite.
US going for overgrowing record national debt after end of Clinton era budget surplusses and talks about possibility of national debt being paid out in future.
When ever country’s leaders become not responsible to people with their personal safety you can bet wrong doings become common in economical and political leadership and ordinary citizens are made to suffer…
While economical and political elite just keeps grabbing bigger and bigger benefits, bonuses and salaries (with big tax free amounts) regardless of economical situation and how bad work they’re doing. Also causing expensive bankruptcies is perfectly OK when sanctioned by politicians.
MichaelKJ
7 months ago |Nothing in that article about “resurgent MFT sales.”
Most recent quarter profits were 10,353 million yen for medical division and 370 million yen for imaging division (first profitable quarter for imaging in some time). Thus, for 97% of profit for the two divisions came from medical.
If you want to be up to date, you should also note that Oly’s stock continued to rise Tuesday.
YouDidntDidYou
7 months ago |@MichaelKJ
Woodford said so himself after he left, I was quoting him! Unless of course he was lying or mistaken :p
btw profit aren’t sales
YouDidntDidYou
7 months ago |@Thom Hogan
Woodford is now saying today that the money may have come back into the company.
tofino
7 months ago |Of course profits aren’t sales. Do you consider sales more important that profits?
Oly’s increase in camera sales for the first half of this year was likely driven by steep discounts on older models. If you look at BCN sales ranking data for Japan you will find that the top Oly sellers are all discounted older models: E-PL1s, E-P2.
mahler
7 months ago |What a garbage. Olympus is not that important, that it deserves such extraordinary action. The company should first clean up its financial mud and provide products with a quality standard, which we were used to. Currently, the latter is not the case, the m4/3 lens products are not on par with their FT counterparts.
Thus, Olympus profits from its mythos from analog and FT times, which it currently cannot comply with.
Only if these points are dealt with, it deserves a campaign support. Now, it is just an ordinary company.
And it is not comparable to Leica. Despite of business problems, Leica kept its quality standard always high, thus deserving support.
Parci
7 months ago |Actually, you would have a hard time finding lenses besting the 9-18, 14-150, 12/2 and 45/1.8 in their own game, especially considering price, weight and performance. That said, of course it is just an ordinary company, albeit one with a long and glorious history.
Fish
7 months ago |First of all, m4/3 is a different concept than FT was – and for its intended purpose, m4/3 lenses are absolutely brilliant! Take the 9-18mm m.zuiko in your hand and compare it with one of the FT wideangles and you may start to get it.
Not only has Olympus been a pioneer of features that have become commonplace and essential in present day dslrs, they were innovators even back in the days of film. I don’t care what your favorite brand of camera is (and you have always made yourself clear that it is not Olympus), you would have to be completely ignorant of history to say that “Olympus is not that important”.
No one will fault you if their current products are not to your taste, but it does not benefit any photographer to have any camera company go out of business – more choices are always better. It is especially tragic when it is one of the bulwarks of photography with almost 100 years of influence and innovation.
mahler
7 months ago |I don’t care about a company’s tradition, if it does not deliver the products with its former excellency. I am not overwhelmed with the current Olympus lenses, as my 2.0/12mm has issues (inconsistent sharpness), missing accessories (lens hoods), and mediocre finish (lens barrel of 1.8/45mm very prone to scratches). Even the specs aren’t that glorious – see the 6.7 max aperture at the 300mm end of the 75-300mm m4/3 lens.
No tradition helps, that the multicontroller ergonomics of the PENs is questionable, and it does not support that currently there is no equivalent body concept for the E-xxx DSLRs from Olympus (not to speak of the good old OM film cameras).
I think Panasonic lives up to Olympus’ traditions more than Olympus currently does, in providing more diverse and better body concepts. Going digital, Olympus became much different. They had a lot of trial and errors, abandoned too much (E-1, E-3xx), never had convincing sensors. Thus it is a shadow of itself in the former film era.
The financial mud only confirms that.
Fish
7 months ago |You don’t care about a company’s tradition? That seems incongruous with your earlier statement about comparing it with Leica’s history.
And to say that Panasonic lives up to Olympus traditions more, while at the same time Olympus is a shadow of its former self? Are you serious? The difference between the two is, AT BEST, personal preference. What is there about Olympus products that allows you to say that Panasonic trumps it so completely?
I use Olympus because I have found IBIS to be a more elegant solution and a huge advantage with legacy glass (also, I do photography, not videography). And I prefer the look of Olympus jpegs over panasonic’s (for me, raw defeats the purpose of m4/3 – to get ultimate IQ, you wouldn’t use m4/3 in the first place).
You obviously disagree with my assessments or may have totally different personal criteria… that’s why we have – and should encourage – multiple camera companies. But to suggest that panasonic lives up to Olympus’ traditions, while Olympus is a shadow of its former self… that’s beyond absurd. What Panasonic innovations or advantages are you talking about when you say that?
I own the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 and would have owned the 7-14mm if I didn’t already have the Olympus lens. I would also like to get the GF3 as an ultra compact second camera. Some people prefer different bodies and lenses over others. I totally expect that… but it would be difficult enough to say that one company, hands down, makes better products than the other. Let alone try to claim that one is continuing a proud tradition while the other is only a shadow of its former self.
mahler
7 months ago |I said that Leica deserves support because of the quality of the products and not its tradition.
Panasonic’s current camera line-up is more “analogish” than Olympus because most of the cameras have more and better dedicated controls and switches. From handling they are mostly better photographic tools with controls big enough and located, where naturally your fingers are. They had tilt screen and build-in view finders from the beginning, features, which make photography more comfortable, and which I expected from Olympus rather than Panasonic. Instead, Olympus fixed their product strategy to the PEN concept only. And yes, I am serious, the difference is not just personal preference. It is the philosophy of a product line, which in case of Panasonic is more diverse, more customer (photographer) oriented.
Then, how did both conducted the start of the system? Panasonic with fast cameras, with quick AF, with a wide focal length range early on (28-400mm equiv.). Very early they released the 7-14mm lens, expanding photographer’s possibilities very early. At the time when Panasonic had the 7-14mm ready, Olympus came with the lame, prematurely released EP-1 paired with just the 14-42 mm kit lens and the not overwhelming (to say the least) 2.8/17mm pancake.
Who made the first m4/3 “classic” (the 1.7/20mm) – Panasonic. Who had the first macro, fisheye – Panasonic. Who had the first video-ready lens – Panasonic. Tell me one single lens, where Olympus really pioneered. I can only add the 2.0/12mm.
Who has announced fast zooms? Panasonic.
Since Olympus favors a rangefinder-like camera concept – who should have come up with a rangefinder with build-in view finder first and should have done so already ? Olympus. Who is slammed for not doing so with the GX1 – Panasonic.
The only slight advantage Olympus has, is the IBIS concept. Slight, because it is not generally better, because for video and long telephoto lenses OIS is superior.
So this is a long list, where Panasonic – the electronic giant – pioneered rather than the traditional photograhic company, which still thinks that mystifiying their heritage and tradition is enough to be successful.
I don’t talk about quality, here Olympus and Panasonic might be more or less on par, although I think that Panasonic has the edge. But if we talk about products for photographers on time with good handling, in digital age, a company’s traditions means nothing.
Fish
7 months ago |Again it is personal preference – you just seem to think that your preference is the only one that matters : )
You can call IBIS a slight advantage but for me it is HUGE. Every single lens I put on my E-PL2 is stabilized. For you that is slight because you do video (I said right from the start that I was talking about photography not videography) or plan on using long telephotos. You still have the option of those activities with Olympus but you will get better results with panasonic. But for anyone who wants to use a legacy lens or one without built in stabilization you don’t even have the option of stabilization with panasonic. That is not slight that is: possible vs. not possible.
I don’t have to insult panasonic to respect Olympus, I have been quite vocal of my admiration of the 20mm f1.7. But the sad truth is: that lens is even better on my Olympus than it is on your panasonic – because you don’t even have the option of OIS.
You cite the first macro lens as being a “win” for panasonic but somehow manage to forget who it was that built the very first dedicated portrait lens for m4/3, something that was sorely missing, not to mention at half the price of the 45mm macro. You also seem to forget Olympus’ collapsing designs (thankfully panasonic has now decided to go that route with the new 14-42mm x lens). Because being compact fits “the philosophy of a product line” perfectly – like and hand in a glove.
Have an open mind. Olympus is not stopping you from enjoying your panasonic. If anything, their sensor cleaning and live view inventions may have even had a hand in your enjoyment. You don’t favour IBIS – no problem. But at least the fact that Oly has it puts a little pressure on Panasonic to release more lenses with OIS for you to enjoy. There’s no need to feel jealous over perceived “love” or “affection” for another camera company than your own.
mahler
7 months ago |My mind is open (I even granted Olympus to pioneer to have the first wide prime, we can add the 1.8/45mm too, but that does not change the picture much).
I want to emphasize that Olympus isn’t that special pearl of photography anymore. They could not take that over from the analog era. Even an electronic giant is now on par to make as good photographic products as the traditionalist can do. As such, we have to view Olympus with the same enthusisasm or sceptisism as all the competitors. Therefore Olympus does not deserve special campaigning. The market alone will tell, if they survive. Leica survived finally (and just barely), because they kept the quality, and released the right product in the last minute (the M9) after the desasters of their digital R back and the flawed M8.
mahler
7 months ago |As for having two vendors in m4/3, I totally agree, that it is better to have them both. The point is, in digital age, Panasonic and Olympus are the same. Olympus traditions don’t play anymore, Panasonic’s “non traditional” background can deliver the same, mostly even earlier.
Therefore Olympus should be received with much less “love” and “affection” than it currently gets and these petitions, support campaigns do not make a lot of sense.
BLI
7 months ago |Olympus’ products are not perfect. But I like them. For me, clicking on a button on a web page is well worth the time to show my support for Olympus. To call such support garbage and suggest that Olympus first must clean up their business and produce exactly the product I want, is — well, I’m a polite person.
deraal
7 months ago |99,99% ???
Olympus would need 10.000 employees for each one who fucked up.
I’m sorry, but i really hate false statistics, it gives people illusions about true facts.
And even though I know probably far less then you do, I know that a company runs on profit and not on Ethics.
Olympus got a financial break down and It will probably put the rest of their money on PR then on R&D of new or better products.
I know It sounds pessimistic but I dont see a soon uprising from this company, even though I bought the E-P1 without waiting for any reviews because I loved Olympus.
If I’m wrong, I want the peaking focus NEX-function in the next PEN
Prasad
7 months ago |I hope Olympus comes out of this. Keeping my fingers crossed for Olympus. And I am sure when I comes out, it will kick the a** of every other kid on the block with the PEN Pro.
Bob B.
7 months ago |I hope Olympus can dig out of this. GO TEAM!
twoomy
7 months ago |I would actually call this GREAT news! Clean out the dirty execs and get back on track. Olympus makes great medical equipment and the camera division has shown great promise of rebirth with the 12mm and 45mm releases this year. Hope the money shakers don’t ruin it all.
lnqe-M
7 months ago |Yes i think so also.
Hhom Togan
7 months ago |As they are now, I would prefer Panasonic buying Olympus’ camera division
Henrik
7 months ago |QUOTE:
– Begin working immediately to position Olympus as a world-class model of corporate excellence, including excellence in complying with the highest standards of corporate ethics.”
—
ANSWER:
Tough one.
nobody
7 months ago |I would gladly support Oly by buying a NEX7 type of camera, with integrated LVF that is. So, I say, bring on what people want to buy and you have better times ahead.
Besides that, I would strongly agree with the suggestion to call back the fired CEO Michael Woodford. Credibility is what Olympus is lacking now, and nothing else would reinstall credibility for Olympus as much as calling back the person who brought up all that misery.
Boooo!
7 months ago |From what I heard, Woodford wanted to kill the Imaging Division, so I really don’t know if it’s a good thing to have him back.
I’m still waiting for an E-7 as a substantial upgrade from my E-3.
Hhom Togan
7 months ago |If there’s something that can save the company is their medical technology division and the micro 4/3s cameras, the olympus E DSLR line was a death announced since its conception and as things are right now they will be wise by saving profitable products and dumping slow selling products.
A mirroless camera is a good reason to have a small sensor, a DSLR isn’t, as much of a fan I am of Olympus products the E line will be better dead and buried than adding more burden to he company.
MichaelKJ
7 months ago |Oly’s P&S cameras have also been major money losers. I personally don’t know of anyone who owns one and they simply are not competitive with other brands. The only way I can see the imaging division having a chance at generating significant profits is if it focuses solely on mFT.
Boooo!
7 months ago |It’s not a “small sensor”. The difference between 4/3 and APS-C is – apart from the aspect ratio – two thirds of a stop. That really isn’t much, or at least shouldn’t be, but Panasonic just sucks at making sensors. They lag by several stops, instead of 2/3.
Olympus could have OWNED sports/wildlife with a slightly better sensor, better AF and longer lenses. Instead, they pursued a standard system that didn’t even have anything faster than f/2, nor a standard 50mm equivalent prime; Panasonic made that one (no, the f/2.8 pancake doesn’t count). Now they’re all making tiny cameras and trying to fill the “I’ll make some street snapshots today” niche. That’s not going to work. If m4/3 wants to have a future, then it needs proper camera bodies that look, weigh and behave as DSLRs.
If the E-system dies, so will Oly’s m4/3. Nobody in their right mind is going to buy products from a company that killed their former camera system after only about 3-4 years, compatibility with Panasonic be damned. Yes, I know technically 4/3 started about 7-8 years ago, but it gained traction very late, when we had the E-x20, E-30 and E-3. For all intents and purposes, 4/3 is roughly four years old now. People have invested into what seemed like a blooming system and bought some really expensive lenses that work like utter horse shit on m4/3 – not only can’t they focus quickly, but the ergonomy is also horrible. Need I again mention an E-PL1 that fell apart with a 50-200 mounted when my friend accidentally picked up the camera instead of the lens?
I frequent a local photo web forum. The standard response to “should I buy a PEN” is now “buy a decent compact, it’s smaller and cheaper, and then later buy a Canon or a Nikon DSLR”. We’re not rich here. I know people in the western world can drop a pittance of their salaries on something like a 150mm Oly prime, but we need to drop three whole salaries on such a lens, and then it’s a paperweight, because – check this out – it doesn’t even work on m4/3.
Trevor
7 months ago |The E system is alive?
DonParrot
7 months ago |+1000
I’d rather see an engineer such as Terada San at the helm of Olympus than Woodford who is well known as hatchet man. You need a vision for mid- and long-tern success. Trying to reduce your costs as far as possible and sack people od reduce their salaries doesn’t do any good to the products a company produces. It only results in short-term gains for the shareholders.
No, thank you very much. Woody should stay in the UK.
mahler
7 months ago |In my opinion, it is also the engineers, which are part of the problem. If not, we would not see only PENs but a more diverse product line, with tilt screen and build-in EVFs earlier, and not such flawed ergonomics as the flimsy multicontrollers are. We would also see a much less confusing menu system and Olympus could have started with a much stronger contender than the EP-1.
Pierre Tessier
7 months ago |Answer for Hhom Togan
I do disagree ! Dropping the E-DSLR (FT) line was a big mistake. Think about the excellent ZUIKO DIGITAL lens.
im
7 months ago |It’d not our right to meddle in other affairs when we know only hear say
– Call on Michael to return to Olympus and resume his duties as president…….what gives forums the right to make company decisions?
quiquelbola
7 months ago |Mahler, have you ever had an OLY cam?….how you can say They Oly menu is confusing?. The only thing you have to do is read for one time the owner´s manual. Have you did it?. All we know you like, like many other in this place panasonic, and it´s OK, keep on buying their hibrid video still plastic things, and let the rest enjoy the photographic tools made by Olympus and other companies, I mean, Fuji, ricoh, nikon, zeiss, Leica……
im
7 months ago |Enacting on rumors is pretty poor approach and does more harm than good, after all what is on this site is based on rumors not what has or will occur.
Paulus
7 months ago |Thanks Admin for the support of the Olympus Staff!
+ 100% !
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sneye
7 months ago |I have many contradicting thoughts about this scandal.
I’ve been using Olympus photographic gear for almost twenty years now and truly wish the company well. I think Olympus is important to the whole industry thanks to its innovative tradition and different way of seeing things.
OTOH the corporate behavior seems to be outrageous. I don’t know whether anything criminal has been done or whether it’s some kind of obscure financial wizardry, but such lack of transparency in the actions of a public company is alarming. It’s a pity a good company should suffer an awful management like that. Hopefully the efforts made by Olympus employees are successful, but to be quite honest I’m skeptical.
Frank
7 months ago |Sinking ship.
Miroslav
7 months ago |I support Olympus and I don’t want it to fold, especially because of the people who earn their living there and have nothing to do with top management.
If they continue to develop their m4/3 products and put new features in them, I will support them by purchasing their products. Being the only mirrorless system with IBIS, with small (enough) but quality lens lineup, I’d like them to have many more generations of cameras and lenses.
But they have to support us users as well. No new cameras / lenses / accessories needed, just issue a new firmware with features other manufacturers already have: focus peaking, Extra Teleconversion, HDR, low light stacking, panorama, enable customization of more buttons and shooting screen, … Just as Blackberry released free apps to show it cares for its users, Oly should do the same. Software upgrades require lot less R&D, but could prolong the life of current models until new bodies are ready. And I suppose we won’t see new cameras for some time because of current state Olympus is in.
spam
7 months ago |“99,99% of Olympus employees are doing an incredible good job”, then they must have a bright future. Probably wouldn’t need more than 50% in that category to take over the world.
physguy88
7 months ago |Oh god…. just when Olympus seems to have gotten a reprieve from delisting….
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/business/global/ex-chief-of-olympus-to-return-to-tokyo.html?pagewanted=1&hp
NY Times is reporting that total amount missing from 2000-2009 is $6.25 billion, with $4.9 billion still missing.
Japanese police now suspects much of that money was paid to the Yakuza. Yes, the Yakuza actually _IS_ involved.
The current working theory of the authorities is that Olympus went to the Yakuza to cover investment losses, and then was extorted into paying much more than the actual loss amounts in various advisory fees and other shenanigans.
Criminal charges are now in the works for the executives and advisers, but here’s the worst part for Olympus:
-If the organize crime link is proven then Japanese regulations _mandate_ delisting of Olympus stock.
-If investors sue to recover past losses and the company is delisted, I don’t see how it can save itself from liquidation.
stopkidding
7 months ago |Go Oly!