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Olympus could be leaving the digital camera market, reports say

by 36 Comments

According to the latest reports, Olympus is doing badly. And it’s so bad, that the company could even leave the digital camera market. Reportedly, the company’s activist shareholders could force Olympus to exit the market and go into a different direction.

The 4/3 Addict writes that Olympus’ financial results for the Q3 of 2018 were far from promising. Consolidated revenue in the Imaging Business went down 19%. The operating loss amounted to ¥13,129 million, compared with an operating profit of ¥1,493 million in the same period of the previous fiscal year. These declines are reportedly the result of several factors. These include the constraints on supplies of some of the company’s products. Also, the competition in the mirrorless camera market and the restructuring of Olympus’ manufacturing locations all led to a massive loss in revenue.

The same source explains that these losses got the shareholders upset. “Many Olympus shareholders happen to be foreigners and they are starting to make headway,” the 4/3 Addict writes. “This could eventually lead to Olympus either discounting their camera sales or going in a fundamentally new direction.”

For now, none of this has been confirmed, but the fact is that Olympus is struggling. Still, I hope that the company will manage to overcome the difficulties and not have to leave the digital camera market. We’ll keep following this case and keep you updated.

[via Photo Rumors]

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  • 4/3 was never a winning idea. It’s a shame because they were nicely built.

    • 00rodgee00

      Though the market is saturated at the moment, why not take what they’ve done and create a APS-C camera or Full Frame?

      • Alan C

        Full frame is a dead, mirroless A0SCus the futer as is real full frame cameras known as medium format. 35mm camera format is not “full frame” dinosour, it’s just a marketing bull crap by Nikon and Canon.

        • Richard Jackson

          Pentax has all sensor sizes covered 😉

          • mice

            Said the 2%. :)

  • Shame. They weren’t my cup of tea camera wise but I liked the company.

  • I love my Olympus. I hope they find their spark again.

  • The only good camera they made was the OM-1 and the OM-2🙃

    • fang

      The EP-Ls are very good cameras. Bought one for my daughter a few months ago – she loves the size, style and photo quality.

    • Disagree with vigor! I love my 1st gen OMD EM-10 so much I bought an OMD E-M10 II for back up. It’s a well built and reliable camera, that is the perfect size for long walks in the woods.

  • barry wilson

    Help! I’ve succumbed to click bait.

    • 00rodgee00

      What’s click bait about this article, they are not doing well and there’s no if ands or huts about it. Speculation of course is whether they’ll stay in the camera market or try something else besides 4/3 but those are good sound speculations under these conditions

      • barry wilson

        Not only biting the bait, but chomping hard while being reeled into the boat.

  • I hope they figure things out. I really dig my M4/3 camaera.

  • PCat

    I think Apple should by them and make a 4/3 or FullFrame iOS camera with all their great algorithms applied to a big sensor.

  • Who?

  • Victor Reynolds

    Shame. I have the E-PL6 and am happy with it. Hopefully they’ll find a way to stay in the game.

  • best 43 company 😔

  • Mark Bishop

    This story is almost certainly wrong. A company that invests heavily in restructuring production between plants is unlikely to exit the market, especially having made a sizeable profit in the previous year, in which restructuring costs – a one-off item – were not incurred. Expectation must be future profits.

    • fang

      Exactly. Manufactured rumor.

    • fang

      Also: didn’t Canon’s CEO say Olympus was a major threat?

      • mice

        In the polite sense of Tom Brady saying last year’s Jets defense posed a threat.

    • A_n_S

      You’re right that the current loss may be a result of the restructuring, but it’s a nine month result, the last quarter is unlikely to pull that around. The problem is that the imaging business if less than 7% of overall revenue. If competitive pressure continues and restructuring doesn’t improve results, an exit becomes more likely. They are catering to a niche market, they are not as established as, say, Sony.

    • mice

      The restructuring was more lateral than progressive with the move to the Vietnamese plant. There’s a lot of movement from China to Vietnam for a lot of companies due to rapidly increasing labor costs and political/military instability in the region.
      With the ILC market still shrinking and no way to profit from FF/MF in the immediate future and smartphones about to acquire optical zoom capability and increased AI, Olympus is in a tough spot, let alone from stockholders. Having one egg (“high margin mirrorless” 4/3rds in one basket) and having your Pana partner drop you like a diseased-ridden corpse doesn’t do wonders for hope.

  • Rick

    I’m left wondering though just how well this compares to the competition. Did any of the larger manufacturers make any money last year?

  • Jon Dearth

    The omd em1 mark ii was the best micro 4/3 stills camera I’ve ever had. I also had the gh5 for video as neither did both well. I sold them all and bought a Sony a7r3 and an a6500 with several g master lenses and haven’t looked back.

  • ptz55

    Nikon was on the ropes not long ago. The equipment manufacturers are fighting for a share of a smaller pie it seems. Cell phones have changed many things and this has been one area that has felt the impact with the end of point and shoots .

  • Gary Pageau

    This is all just speculation. “4/3 Addict” is hardly a site i would go to for financial analysis.

  • FooBar

    Seriously?? How do you get ‘could be’ from a random, non-attributed statement from a minority investor?

    Oh yah, click bait…….

    • A_n_S

      It’s not somebody’s statement, it’s their fiscal report, which I just pulled up to look at details. 20% loss year on year and the fact that the imaging business is less than 7% of their overall revenue makes this exit likely, if the restructuring effort doesn’t pull it around.

  • David Addams

    No reason to conclude they are leaving the market.

    If you read carefully what happened is the company restructured their manufacturing division. This lead to a temporary lack of products to sale.

    The temporary decrease in sales and the cost of restructuring lead to a one-quarter loss instead of a profit.

    Wait until the next quarter report before reaching any conclusions. That will show any positive effect of the restructuring and there shouldn’t be any problem supplying products by that point.

  • Great lenses! 4 thirds, not sure about micro though

  • Valentin?!

  • As much as I love my Olympus cameras, I will survive if they abandon the market. But I would remind you that Olympus’ non-mainstream mindset has always placed them into the niche markets. Skating on thin ice is something Oly does with some regularity.

  • John Donaldson

    With the ILC market shrinking there simply may not be enough Olympus profits to develop new products. Something has to give and it very well could be Olympus has to bow out of the market. If I were buying a camera today I’d want some assurance the manufacturer would still be in business down the line.

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