And the process has began, slowly, but steady.

Olympus plans to exit its camera business in South Korea hit by decreasing sales, focusing instead on optical equipment for medical purposes and scientific equipment, the Korean branch of the Japanese manufacturer said Thursday.

In a statement, Olympus Korea said it will “cease its imaging business in Korea, effective June 30, 2020.” Its Brand Store, a store operated by Olympus Korea in southern Seoul, and its online shopping mall E-store will also be closed on the same day.

The company, however, added it will keep operating the service division until March 31, 2026. The division is responsible for repairing and exchanging Olympus products.

The Korean unit said the decision was mostly because of declining sales volume.

“Olympus Korea had made strenuous efforts to increase the profitability and efficiency of its imaging business by concentrating on mirrorless cameras, including OM-Dand PEN as well as interchangeable lenses. However, over the last few years, the market has sharply declined. As a result, it has become barely possible to sustain the business with profit, leading to the decision to withdraw the imaging business from the market,” the company said.

Cooking books

Revenue Declined 8% due to difficult business environment, lack of new products in 1H caused by the restructuring of manufacturing bases, and COVID-19 impact in 4Q. Operating loss decreased due to absence of restructuring expenses recorded last year and improved SG&A efficiency.

Some dealers are moving toward resuming business but still many regions are under severe outing restrictions. Online marketing (such as utilizing SNS) will need to be strengthened Expect demand in end consumer market to take more time

In the digital camera field of the Imaging Business, if the market contracts more sharply than anticipated, the Olympus Group may be unable to adequately counter the resulting sales decline with the restructuring measures currently implementing, and this may adversely affect the Olympus Group’s earnings.

https://www.olympus-global.com/ir/data/brief/2020.html

Most people don't get the trick company used.

As they moved release date of report they actually make you think that it include April and May data, and of course it does not have any of it.

Olympus disaster happened in this last two months.

Olympus Has Fallen

Most fun fact that

Expect new video in few months from same guy who will explain that Olympus closure is nothing and it is fully ok and is good for camera users.

This guy made exactly such video. 100%.

Some mental issues

Olympus UK’s Mark Thackara:

Nobody can promise that Olympus will be here in 100 years time, as you can’t say that about any brand. What I can say is, we have seen the product road map, including the new lens one, and it’s very exciting. The company wouldn’t be bringing out news lenses if they didn’t believe in the system. We are quietly positive.

Don’t panic. As far as we are concerned it is business as usual. Businesses change hands and flourish, so there no reason this won’t be the case here. I have been through all sorts of ups and downs in my 35 years with Olympus. Our basic technology and core proposition are still very good.

He can say anything to sell you remaining stock, literally everything.

The ship will be an u-boat long before january 2021.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev

Also, seems a bit far fetched to believe that possibly continued production will not have a associated name besides OMD and ZUIKO?

Do you think that your product lineup will get smaller?

We will focus on the high-end market more than ever. High-end cameras and lenses in the ILC lineup. There may be some changes in the product lineup for strategic reasons, but we don’t plan simply to reduce the number of products.

https://www.dpreview.com/interviews/1110652776/olympus-interview-we-are-extremely-grateful-to-all-of-our-customers-for-their-loyalty-and-support

Strong rumor from China

At least two Chinese firms that already offer lenses for mirrorless and DSLR cameras are now working tight to get most of Olympus lens designers and engineers.

Average offered salary is 1.7-2x of present Olympus one (due to situation at Olympus it was among lowest in the Japan industry). But offers can go as high as 3x salary. Of course it also includes free apartments and free transfer, plus free language teachers for all family.

Firms specially underlined that it is human resources that are valuable as equipment and computer software that they used are mostly subpar to much newer Chinese factories.

"I have recently been told by a Olympus representative that JIP is most likely to continue developing the PRO segment of their MFT system, and possibly there will be a re-branding without the Olympus name. It is also likely that they will discontinue the volume cameras, such as the E-PL series. Non of this is officially confirmed, but it is said that they are working on a press release that will be released within approximately one month from today."

A source told me that actually Olympus plans to announce one more camera this fall. He didn’t tell me what this might be. Let’s hope the JIP partnership didn’t change the roadmap.

It'll be real fun.

New Olympus buyers false assurances

JIP will not sell remains of Olympus after destruction

They said there have been no cases of bankruptcy in their past 30 investments. They are confident they can regenerate the business and definitely do NOT plan to sell the business to the best bidders. The hope is to achieve a profitability in the first year. After that, instead of selling it to external companies, they will search for a way to revive it under JIP company.

This self-confidence is underpinned by the success of the PC “VAIO” business. It returned to profitability in the fiscal year ended May 2016, and has continued to increase profits every fiscal year. EMS (manufacturing outsourcing) business for robots has also started, and the core of the business is increasing.

Sony VAIO is clearly not the success case. Brand is literally destroyed and Taiwan notebooks with nice logos is being sold with added huge margins.

JIP will maintain Olympus brand and not withdraw from overseas markets:

The Olympus brand will be maintained for the time being, and the maintenance of the sold products will be continued. Unlike the “VAIO”, there is no plan to ​​withdraw from the overseas market, and they will continue to sell overseas such as in Europe, which is their “main market”. They also plan to keep using the new fab in Vietnam.

Main point here is to avoid any conflicts that will arise from lack of service, so nice little lie can help.

JIP plan to regenerate the MFT business:

Key to success is “focusing on unique features and technologies. They plan to shift from consumer-oriented market to the business-oriented market where “its features can be maximized”. JIP also plans to focus on the “video business” which so far Olympus hasn’t really focused on: “we are considering various markets such as consumer products specialized for video and business such as surveillance cameras”

JIP lacks people, expertise or even funds to do even generic 1-2 designs on existing base, I am not talking about LSI design that is required for each of such products.

If burning can be called regeneration - it is exactly this.

The issue with human resources:

It has not been decided whether all human resources in the video business will move to the new company. JIP is negotiating with Olympus to acquire talent along with acquisition

Olympus already lost lot of people and around 90% of all leading developers are either already found new job or search actively for one.

https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/374348?page=3

@EspenB

It is big issue with their plan.

HiSilicon designed and produced around 20-30% of all chipsets for industrial and security cameras. It is gone.

SMIC that will be defeated in coming weeks also hods around 20-25%.

Lot of the leading cameras manufacturers are falling under sanctions or already under them.

May be China will be able to try to route all existing 45-65nm capacity making basic router LSI and street cameras LSI. But not more in coming year or two.