What started as seemingly some kind of "cultural dispute" between senior executives at Olympus is turning into a major financial scandal. The company has now admitted hiding losses for 20 years and has currently lost 70% of its value. It seems unlikely that we can expect anything on the camera front for some time to come, if at all. It would be a shame if a company with an illustrious history in camera design and manufacture were to disappear, but with shocking revelation after shocking revelation and the scale of the figures involved, it seems unlikely that there will ever be a return to "business as usual".
Its possible the brand and its current products can be picked up by another company and survive in some way but any notion of it continuing as before is surely impossible.
For the latest on what is proving to be an endless stream of ever more damaging revelations, here's a link to the Reuters website.
I am a long time Olympus user, the tittle triggered me... and yes you are right, Olympus is in deep deep trouble.
ReplyDeleteNah, there was no "culture dispute" unless one considers the idea that an employee should shut up and pretend that what is not true is true a cultural dispute. That may be true to a large extent in in some Japanese companies, a loss of $687 million is not a cultural dispute.
ReplyDeleteThat "Gaijin who did not understand/like Japan is an old red herring used to pretend that the problem is something it isn't. You can tell it is/was no cultural dispute by looking at the reactions of Japanese stockholders, and belatedly, the Japanese press (even though a small Japanese magazine first broke the story) to this massive fraud.
Me, I am so happy that this sort of thing is seeing the light of day overseas, as well as in Japan. It is about time we hear something other than the usual mysticism about Japan. The Olympus liars got caught, and got could and exposed globally. Two thumbs up.