News

Konica Minolta, Fuji Photo Film. and Eastman Kodak Company have joined forces to develop a set of open storage standards for preserving digital photos and motion images on CDs, DVDs or other media.

Hoya Corporation, owner of the Pentax brand, announced the transfer of the Pentax Imaging System Business to Ricoh Corporation on 1 July, 2011.

Having cancelled a planned stock-swap merger with Hoya Corp in April, Pentax Corporation has now reported a group operating profit of 3.57 billion yen for the 2006 financial year, up from 805 million yen in the previous year.

After a month-long battle to maintain its independence, Pentax has “informally accepted” the 770 Yen per share takeover offer from glass maker, Hoya.

Several reports from overseas news agencies claim Pentax has withdrawn from a planned merger with Hoya Corporation that was announced late last year.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., which recently changed its name to Panasonic, will invest 94 billion Yen to expand its semiconductor production facility at its Tonami plant in Toyama Prefecture.

Pentax is expected to gain through merging its low-growth digital camera and lenses businesses with Hoya, helping it fend off rising competition.

Panasonic will take majority control of Sanyo Electric in a US$4.6 billion deal, which concluded yesterday.

According to the report, Panasonic will gain by adding Sanyo’s expertise in solar panels and rechargeable batteries to its portfolio but shedding overlapping businesses, such as manufacture of digital cameras and consumer electronics products, will add to short-term costs.

Matsushita Electric (Panasonic), Sanyo Electric and Sigma Corporation have announced their support for the Four Thirds System standard, which was announced in September 2002.