Fujifilm Confirms It Considered Buying Leica, Then Olympus

Shigetaka Komori (right), President and Chief Executive Officer of Fujifilm, in a frank and revealing interview in the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (a.k.a. the FAZ), confirmed that Fuji considered buying Leica when it was for sale; however, that would have resulted in putting the guts of Fuji cameras into Leica shells, so he thinks it was an honest decision not to go in that direction.

He also confirmed that Fujifilm made an offer to purchase or partner with Olympus in the wake of the latter company's recent difficulties, but it appears that Olympus prefers to remain independent. He spoke about how the high yen is making it difficult for export-oriented Japanese companies such as Sony, Matsushita and Olympus (and by extension, his own company). He said Fujifilm would have found it easier to buy Olympus if it had not been a publicly traded company with two large Tokyo banks behind it (Tokyo Mitsubishi and Mitsui Sumitomo). Had Olympus been delisted from the stock exchange, things might also have gone differently.

Fujifilm has had a run of great success in the camera market of late, with the X100, X10, and X-Pro1 all greatly exceeding expectations. Fujifilm is also expanding into cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Mike
(Thanks to Gerry Morgan)

Send this post to a friend

Please help support TOP by patronizing our sponsors B&H Photo and Amazon

Note: Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. More...
Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Comments

[Semilog]

Very, very happy with the xpro. Not a perfect camera by any stretch of the imagination but then I come from a Leica M which has its own vast array of imperfections. The xpro is a camera with real character and verve, and the 18mm lens -- if not perfectly sharp at the edges -- renders gorgeously. And it was SEVEN TIMES less expensive than a 28 Summicron.

[Ed]

They should reconsider their decision to discontinue fp100 in 4x5. That was just a braindead move, I think.

[PWL]

I admire Olympus' guts in wanting to remain independent, but I hope it doesn't turn out to be a mistake. Thought partnering up with another camera company might be the way to save Olympus Camera Co. from the potential consequences it might suffer as a result of the greed and incompetence of the folks at the top.

As an Oly fanboi, I would hate to see this company go the way of Minolta and Konica...

[cb]

Damn. I would have loved to see Leica being sold - and, hopefully, closed down. Now they have to continue producing weird fashion stuff indefinitely.

[Richard]

It is a shame that Fuji were not able to close the deal with Olympus. Each would have brought a lot to the table and I should very much have wanted to see the result of combining their technologies...especially a µ4/3 with a Fuji technology sensor in it.

As it is, Olympus reportedly has yet to turn a profit in the camera division. I could see it being spun off at some time in the not too distant future. Perhaps Fuji will still be interested.

[Manuel]

I don't agree with Richard. If Mr. Komori states that Fuji was intending to "...putting the guts of Fuji cameras into Leica shells...", why shouldn't they do the same with Olympus? If Fuji had bought Olympus, the Pens would probably be chopped-down X-Pros sans the hybrid viewfinder (just a guess, but surely not too far from the truth).
I also think, for some things I've been reading on the news, that Fujifilm was interested in Olympus' medical imaging business, not in the camera division.

[Semilog]

As a more reliable customer of Olympus's medical imaging division than its camera division, that is an acquisition that I would very much have liked to occur. Sigh.