Olympus plans to cut its camera line-up to boost profits, the man primed to be the firm?s next president has suggested in an interview with a Japanese news agency.
The news comes as Olympus?s Tokyo HQ confirms to Amateur Photographer (AP) that it has received offers of forming a capital alliance from both Sony and Fujifilm, but declined to comment further.
?We would like to narrow down our [imaging business] portfolio,? Hiroyuki Sasa reportedly told Kyodo News.
The agency said Sasa suggested the possibility of pulling ?some types of inexpensive compact digital cameras amid intense price competition?.
Sasa?s proposed appointment as president will be put to Olympus shareholders at a meeting in Tokyo on 20 April for approval.
A spokesperson for Olympus Tokyo was not available for comment on the matter at the time of writing.
Former CEO Michael Woodford, who blew the whistle on a huge financial cover-up at the firm, has previously told AP that he also plans to attend the meeting, where he will fight for Olympus to keep its camera business and try to prevent the firm striking an alliance with another company.
?It would be a terribly sad day for a company with a pedigree, history and brilliant engineers if they merged with another company where its core competence was, over time, diluted,? Woodford told AP in February.
Earlier this year, Toshiyuki Terada, manager of Olympus?s Product Marketing and Planning Group claimed that the imaging division would not be affected by the firm?s accounting cover-up.
Picture for illustration purposes only
