(UPDATED) Olympus-Sony deal now official! They will work together on mirrorless cameras.

It’s done! After months of speculations the Olympus and Sony deal has been officially announced. Wall Street Journal reports: “Olympus said Friday it will raise ¥49 billion ($631.6 million) by issuing new shares to Sony Corp. With the capital tie-up, Sony will effectively become Olympus’s biggest shareholder, with a stake of 11.5% in terms of voting rights. The two companies also plan by the end of December to set up a joint venture to develop medical devices and to study collaboration in compact digital cameras.”

The last sentence is what we care about most: “collaboration in compact digital cameras“. I guess both will keep staying and competing with their own systems and share the sensor, oled and lens technology.

UPDATE: Engadget reports: “The deal also includes a component-sharing agreement in the photography space, with Olympus mirror cells and camera lenses being given to Sony, while image sensors (where Sony is very strong) will go the other way.”

UPDATE_2: Here you can download the offical press release text (.pdf).

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