Options

Is Nikon in trouble?

bike21bike21 Registered Users Posts: 836 Major grins

Lots of chatter about Nikon's recent announcement of huge losses and restructuring. They'll probably be fine, but I'm severely disappointed in the DL Series being canceled. Nikon led us on for a long time, wonder how long they've known the DL series wouldn't be? Guess I won't be coming back to Nikon after all.

https://petapixel.com/2017/02/14/nikon-stock-plummets-15-extraordinary-loss-bombshell/

Comments

  • Options
    ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 23,806 moderator
    edited February 16, 2017

    Nikon is a pretty massive company, and they appear to be taking a proven course to help curb some of their losses. As a formidable competitor in all of their markets, I suspect it would be extremely premature to count them out of the photography market.

    I do believe that Nikon reviewed the market for their prospective "DL" series cameras and made a business decision that the fixed-lens, 1" imager market (what Nikon calls the "premium compact cameras") was a poor direction to pursue at this time.


    Olympus also suffered losses and even subjected themselves to scandalous fraud charges, and yet they appear to be doing much better these days.

    nytimes.com/2011/12/09/business/deep-roots-of-fraud-at-olympus.html

    https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-20/japan-s-olympus-seeks-deals-and-redemption-after-2011-scandal

    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
  • Options
    David_S85David_S85 Administrators Posts: 13,186 moderator

    Is Nikon in Trouble?

    Yes, it so seems. That's sad, really. What they've done over all these decades has pushed the tech and the artform in so many ways. Sure hope they can pare the expenses and can gain strength again.

    My Smugmug
    "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
  • Options
    RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,919 moderator
    edited February 16, 2017

    Maybe not as bad as the screaming headlines would suggest:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uyJVCHDlzU

    While there are certainly some problems in the camera product lines, the bulk of the losses come from the semiconductor lithography line of business.

  • Options
    Cygnus StudiosCygnus Studios Registered Users Posts: 2,294 Major grins

    These Nikon meltdown stories have been talked about since spring of 2014. There seems to be some serious issues in some of the companies holdings, and they will certainly restructure and may even kill off some of these other projects, but I find it difficult to believe that the brand itself would go away.

    Maybe they tried to grow into new industries too fast or maybe too slow, but this isn't the first time that Nikon's demise has been a story and I doubt it will be the last.

    Steve

    Website
  • Options
    bike21bike21 Registered Users Posts: 836 Major grins

    Yeah they'll probably be fine as I mentioned, but I'm going to hold a grudge over the DL Series for a bit. The fact they had such a promising camera that they couldn't bring to market doesn't bode well however.

  • Options
    Cygnus StudiosCygnus Studios Registered Users Posts: 2,294 Major grins

    Looks like Nikon is still working on some interesting new things, including a medium format.

    Steve

    Website
  • Options
    bike21bike21 Registered Users Posts: 836 Major grins

    @Cygnus Studios said:
    Looks like Nikon is still working on some interesting new things, including a medium format.

    They are behind the curve, but for their sake let's hope they do well. My grudge will be lessened if they release a stellar update to the DL series but time will tell ;)

  • Options
    Cygnus StudiosCygnus Studios Registered Users Posts: 2,294 Major grins

    I'm the opposite, I wish that they would get off the pot and finally build a great medium format, preferably mirrorless.

    Steve

    Website
Sign In or Register to comment.