Every few months I have to make a post and debunk some fake news/clickbait story reported by another website. Today we are dealing with the “rumor” that Fuji and the Japanese government are supposed to help Nikon and Fuji will buy Nikon. What is the source you may ask? A random Japanese blog post from a random person with the online name ayaya030915. Several readers already emailed me to inform me that the translation of the article is completely wrong and the source of this “rumor” is questionable, to say the least. The hatenablog.com website is like blogger.com – anyone can start a blog and write about the Loch Ness monster. Of course some websites would love to blow up everything out of proportion, but this is what happens when the desperation for more clicks is bigger than your common sense.
I have no idea if the Japanese government and/or Fuji will get involved with Nikon, but if I have to judge by the source of this “rumor“, I can tell you that this is just another 100% fake story making its rounds. We already had similar reports in the past with Samsung and Sony and now we have one with Fuji. I am sure there will be more to come. Merger and acquisition of large, publicly traded companies are a serious matter and are kept secret because the penalties for leaking information are harsh.
Update – there is another related Japanese article but it requires a subscription in order to see the entire text. This is the excerpt you can see and it doesn’t tell us much:
“Nikon relief” FUJIFILM emerged
“Beginners” are Mitsubishi UFJ and the Ministry of International Trade and IndustryJune 2017 issue
Reconstruction observation of Nikon and Fujifilm Holdings (HD) prestigious precision equipment including single lens reflex cameras is rapidly emerging. It is said that it is said that it is said that the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the main bank of Nikon, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ
I encourage you to read the comments to this post in order to get a better understanding of what kind of publications Sentaku is and how all this was initially reported.
Update (June 12th, 2017) – I finally got the full version of the Sentaku article and the translation (thanks HN!). Since this is a copyrighted material from a paid subscription, I will just quote a few paragraphs:
“The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) are to plan a regrouping of Fujifilm Holdings and Nikon, which is a defacto rescue by Fujifilm Holdings to Nikon.
METI is afraid that Nikon’s advanced technology leaks out to other Asian companies if they buy Nikon. There is a rumor among industry sources that Taiwan’s Foxconn, Korea’s Samsung, or China’s Huawei is aiming for Nikon.
Fujifilm Holdings is chosen as a candidate, because both have a similar business model: Nikon’s camera business is compatible with Fujifilm’s, and both now focus medical business as a growing engine. Moreover, Fujifilm Holdings has a grudge against Canon. Fujifilm Holdings lost a competitive bid over Toshiba Medical to Canon, which Fujifilm Holdings insists Canon cheated. Fujifilm Holdings is expected to help Nikon, an archrival of Canon.
Fujifilm Holdings may have no room for M&A now. Fuji Xerox, one of the core subsidiaries of Fujifilm Holdings, has an improper accounting problem at its New Zealand subsidiary, which has made Fujifilm Holdings delay its earnings announcement for FY 2016.”