Sony sells half of its Olympus stake

There is no honor in big business, just pure greed, granted that. But a large part of small business owners, freelance professionals and employees of the public and private sector are actually honorable people. Too bad we have very little say on how things are going around the world... And if we dare to gang up together (like forming unions, for example) to have a chance to say something, then suddenly we become the bad guys. Because only evil megacorporations should have the money and the power to influence world politics...

Everyone criticizing big business would drop their "honour" in a second if they themselves ever entered a situation where millions of their own wealth was at stake.

I'm not criticising big business, business in general, including small business is by definition an entity in 'business' to turn a profit. Nothing wrong with that. My objection is to the singling out of a race or country (in this instance) as if their background had any connection whatsoever with the 'lack of honour'

The Olympus executives who committed the fraud saved the company.
Otherwise Olympus would have gone bust in the early 1990s.
By covering up the losses they actually helped the shareholders at that time and the employees in the longer term.
I know what they did was legally wrong but the actual outcome was that they built a strong, profitable company and the way they company has bounced back from the scandal, they haven't significantly affected current shareholders.
Strange that the illegal decision ended up being the best decision.

Just don't upload anything from your venture to YouTube, thank you very much!

I can just see it now. "Craptastic Voyage" in 4k!

Now that's what I call a selfie stick!

I think a 70-200 f2.8 would do the job, would even save you a trip to the dentist with the option to 'zoom' a bit further up the passage.

With two GoPros, they could get 3D footage! Oh, the mind reels with possibilities!!!

Really...so are you ready to be subjected to certain embarrassing and very uncomfortable medical procedures with a GoPro at the end of a rubber hose? I prefer to insist on the latest in miniaturization technology for same. There's a reason Olympus leads in Endoscopy.

@erichK
IBIS, in-body image stabilization?

Sony never had any interest in the imaging division and the joint venture was with the medical division.
There's a reasonable chance that Sony will be dumping their own Imaging Division in the near future as well if rumours are to be believed.

So sad, but I think you hit the nail on the head ....

They bought for Y50bn. They sold half for Y46bn. The total value of what they still own is Y46bn. The total value of what they still own and what they sold is Y92bn. So they made Y42bn.

Sony is a Japanese company. They paid yen, they received yen. USD does not apply.

OK, lets review the math.

They bought 10% for Y50B, then sold half of it to JP Morgan for Y46B, meaning they got back almost everything they spent and still own 5% of Olympus!

This sounds like a pretty good investment to me. And this happened in LESS than three years! I wish I could manage my own portfolio so well.

The point you are missing is that Sony still owns 5% of Olympus, and has only spent Y4B to get that 5% after selling off the other 5%,

@Alex Permit
Sadly, not true. :)
Value of stock is not the price of last transaction. It's what someone will pay you for it. :P

JP bought 5% for Y46bn and that's very nice. But will Sony find another buyer for the other 5%? And what if someone else only wants to pay Y20bn?

If you buy a share of a company for $100, you don't have $100 any more. You have 1 share - nothing else. If this company is not paying dividends (like Olympus), the share is not worth a penny until you sell it. :)

USDJPY drives the financial results and the stock quote of Olympus, because most profits come from abroad.
And of course JP is American. It is possible they bought the shares just as a currency investment and they overpaid on purpose (they expect to sell for less Y but more $).

And while Sony is a Japanese company, they have a global structure. They sold because they needed money. Maybe they want to take over a foreign company (like Nikon did).

Never underestimate the importance of currency value.:)

Pko, you are VASTLY overestimating the margins in currency trade. The stock is very likely worth almost exactly what was paid. Methinks you misunderstood the initial post and tried to cover for it. :D

The value of a stock is what someone will pay you for it. JP Morgan looked at all the internal financials and decided the 5% stake in Olympus is worth Y46bn. They know alot more than we do. The best information we have is that the other 5% stake is also worth Y46bn.

JP Morgan would not buy stock as a round about way to buy yen. If they wanted to buy yen, they would buy yen. JP Morgan is one of the largest market makers in the currency market, which in turn is the largest, most liquid market in the world.

old 2 axis yes, they got the 5 axis tech from Olympus

No they did not. Sony developed their own system. It is not the Olympus one which is all done in body. Sonys system uses a combination of camera and lens to achieve 5 axis. Which is why it has limitations.

I never said it was identical,,, just that they got the tech from Olympus,, which they did. Fin.

Apologies for the Typo. It should have been 'Regards'

"I never said it was identical,,, just that they got the tech from Olympus,, which they did. Fin."
There is no proof about that.

@Stu 5

"Sonys system uses a combination of camera and lens to achieve 5 axis"

That's not true at all, you get all 5-"axis" (degrees of freedom, really) by moving the sensor, just like the Olympus system.

Sony claim theirs is developed in house, I see no specific reason to disbelieve that. If anyone else develops a 5-axis sensor stabilisation system it will also work in the same way as the Olympus/Sony systems, because that's the only way to do it.

@Stu 5

There was a lot of this confusion going around when the A7II was released, essentially:

1) With adapted lenses you only get 3-axis (pitch/roll/yaw) correction. This is because in order to [attempt to] correct for camera X/Y camera translation you need to know the focus distance (objects at different distances move different amounts across the image plane when translating the camera), which is unavailable unless you have a native lens feeding this information back to the camera.

2. With IS enabled native lenses, pitch/yaw correction is done using the lens, whilst roll & camera X/Y translation are corrected using the sensor. Presumably dedicated in lens pitch/yaw correction works better as it's optimised for the focal length(s) of the lens.

3. With a native, non-stabilised lens, you get 5 axis stabilisation from the sensor.

sony is making money from the camera business actually, they suffer losses from other division especially the mobile division but imaging is not one of them

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-published-q32014-financial-results-sells-less-cameras-but-makes-more-money/

They've been showing losses from imaging for a long time.
Don't be overoptimistic about a single report.
There are many reasons how you could suddenly show profits in a loosing business: cost reduction, reorganization, some financial magic etc. One possible "trick" is to move profits and costs between divisions. Sony can do that, because they show divisions separated.
Example: Sony Imaging division buys sensors from Devices. But they could pay $1 - you never know.

And there are few good reasons why they would want to show good results. Maybe they want to sell camera business. Maybe they plan another public offer to get more capital (they just sold half of their Olympus share).
Clearly, this is an important moment for Sony. They are preparing for something big. :)

@ZeneticX - That is completely wrong.

Sony Imaging Division is making a Loss
Sony Components who makes the sensors is making a profit.

Therewith Sony as a camera manufacturer is making a loss even though the A7 series is a succes.

Also there are still a lot of rumours around in the financial business that Sony plans to sell the Imaging Division as it is being seen as a consumer oriented product line. Whereas Sony as a whole is developing itself into a business to business (OEM) related organization. As a matter of fact those rumours have been getting louder since end of January this year.

As others have said its well possible that Sony wants to polish up the Imaging Division and window clean it to make it ready for a sell off.

The future of Sony seems to be in Components, OEM, Entertainment and Medical equipment.