Sony to buy 10% of Olympus shares.

.

Photokina is over and we can talk again about the Olympus fraud story. Some of you may read that this morning three former Olympus executives plead guilty in fraud trial (Source: Reuters). Our reader Michael underlined that “Sentencing will occur at a later date. Typically Japanese executives in business scandals get fined and receive suspended sentences rather than being sent to jail.”

That said there is one more very important news. Reuters reports that “Sony Corp will likely approve a plan this week to invest 50 billion yen ($642 million) in cash-strapped Olympus Corp, becoming its biggest shareholder with around a 10 percent stake. Sony will set up a joint business with Olympus to develop new medical equipment, and next year will send an executive to join its board of directors. Sony wants to nurture new businesses, including medical equipment, to increase revenue as it draws back from loss-making televisions. Olympus, seeking to retain a high degree of independence, may favor a capital injection from Sony rather than offers of closer business ties from rivals such as medical device maker Terumo Corp and camera maker Fujifilm Holdings Corp.”

There is no info about how the deal will effect the camera business. I don’t think Sony will join the m43 system nor do I think that Olympus will join the NEX system. Sony wants to have their hands on the medical business. I hope Sony will keep doing great sensors for Olympus cameras like the one we had inside the [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink]. That’s all we need!