Tokyo Stock Exchange places Olympus shares 'under supervision'

Now I know how how the investors and employees of Enron felt. My wife and I have 4 Olympus cameras, two flashes, and a half a dozen lenses all made by Olympus. Obviously we like the products and hope that the company survives in some form.

It was an excellent optical and camera company.

Too bad it was run by...___________________

(add your own expletive)

if Olympus is/was so successful with it's medical and camera divisions like everyone thinks why did they have to hide their losses? it seems they were not making a profit at all !!!

Dum dum dummmmm!!
<sinister chipmunk>

The BBC report says there's a call for Michael Woodford, the sacked chief exec' who questioned unusually the large sums paid out, to be reinstated. Looks like he has a good case for substantial damages but there would be no point if the company goes bust in the process.

I think it's all going to end up in court one way or another. Such a shame that a great company should end up in this mess, I do hope Olympus is not lost.

Harakiri time

Sony bought the Konica-Minolta camera business. Maybe some other electronics company that doesn't have cameras yet can buy Olympus, and hopefully keep the brand name. Or the camera business could be spun off and bought by some investor or fund.

Maybe Kodak will buy them ;)

Also troubles with Oly Europe in Hamburg
Michael Woodford shall have gone to police because three managers of Oly Europe are assumed to have made frauds and signed 'blind' invoices.
http://orf.at/stories/2088754/2088796/

How many hardline Oly loyalists will abandon ship if they bring back Woodford to 'clean house'?

Semi-serious prediction: Olympus gets split up; photographic products operation is bought by Panasonic; medical products operation bought by, oh, who knows, maybe Medtronic? More serious question: how many other Japanese companies have been running the same con game Olympus has been running, but without the benefit of a non-brainwashed exec to blow the whistle?

For a company that needs capital...this is gonna be tough to survive.

"Investment losses"? I'm no corporate guru, but surely Olympus was in the business of making things. It was not an investment house. I understand that any business might choose to invest surplus cash if it does not think it can get a better return investing in its own enterprise, or as some kind of a hedge, but surely what is being spoken of here as "investment losses" over several decades is a euphemism for corrupt payments to directors, over several decades.

Better of being sold at first glance. Seems like too many on the board are corrupted or corruptable, seems like this has been a company culture if it has lasted for decades. These kind of cultures are pretty diffucult to change. Look at banks who carry on busniess as usual(well, their managers) even after their conduct has been an important factor for the current economic situation...

May be it is better to split it up and sell it to Sony, Panasonic or so in a way to get rid of those in command.

At this rate my lovely Olympus E-1 will acquire value. It looks like the firing of former chief exec' Michael Woodford has started something.
My guess is that if they don't resolve this by the end of their financial year the company will be wound up or sold.