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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Hoya is to Disband Pentax by this Financial Year End

According to the latest announcement by Hoya Japan on October 29, Hoya has planned to completely disband Pentax, which is currently a whole subsidiary of the Hoya, by March 31 of 2008, i.e., by this financial year end:-

http://www.hoya.co.jp/data/current/newsobj-487-pdf.pdf
(Note: The announcement document is in Japanese)

Update (Nov. 1): An English version of the announcement can be found here, at the Pentax Japanese home site.

The planned schedule for the disbandment is outlined as follows:-

1. The Pentax Corporation will be de-listed from the Japanese stock market on November 30, 2007;

2. Hoya will offer Pentax's stockholders 770 Japanese Yen per Share for the Pentax Corporation's old stocks;

3. The Pentax Corporation will be disbanded on March 31, 2008;

4. After the disbandment, the company name "Hoya Corporation" will completely replace the previous (name of the) "Pentax Corporation" as it has already been disbanded and dissolved within Hoya. Afterall, there will be no "Hoya Pentax HD Corporation" as previously proposed in the last Merger Agreement and the original Merger Proposal.

This will finally mark a full stop of the 88-year old Asahi / Pentax company which was first established in the November of the Year 1919.

Last Story: Hoya Has Completed Acquiring Pentax

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous1/11/07 03:35

    I don't think "dismiss" (which means to reject or to send away) is really what you mean. Perhaps "disband" would be better?

    In any case, another account I saw elsewhere indicated that Hoya would continue to use the Pentax brand for cameras.

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  2. Anonymous1/11/07 03:45

    Quote from English version, "We will still keep the PENTAX brand after the Merger, in light of its importance and economic value."

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  3. Anonymous1/11/07 04:36

    All this means is that Hoya has decided to fold Pentax Imaging into the Hoya corporate structure as a full division of Hoya Corp., rather than a wholly owned subsidiary with it's own duplicate management staff, financials and stock. This is a move make Pentax a more efficient and economical to manage.

    Hoya has stated on numerous occasions that the intend to grow the Pentax Imaging business. They are NOT shutting Pentax down.

    You really should know what you are saying before you post something like this.

    you make this sound like a bash on the company. Like most of your posts on Pentax. What did they ever do to you, anyway?

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  4. Matthew, thanks for the correction. I have revised my article by replacing the word "dismiss" and "dismissal" by "disband" and "disbandment" respectively.

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  5. Anonymous2/11/07 07:58

    You did not just compare the absorption of Pentax by Hoya to disbandment! There is a huge difference between being absorbed and being disbanded. Mainly, one involves being kept together and the other being stripped apart. I hope your english is good enough to figure out which is which.

    The integration of Pentax as a Hoya division only means good things since Hoya has expressed serious interest in Pentax Imaging and is giving them 3 years to be evaluated. This will help Pentax become more efficient and remove overhead costs of lens production while simultaneously providing much more capital for R&D development. Honestly, what would have Sparx have done for them?

    Your complete and utterly oblivious comments show a lack of comprehension of the whole situation. You find one detail and raise it to royal heights as if it is the fountain of youth; something that is clearly apparent in all your posts.

    One last thing i noticed; "This will finally mark a full stop to the 88-year old Asahi / Pentax company...". Despite your incessant declaration that you only want to help Pentax, you blog and that quote say otherwise.

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  6. Pentax has issued a statement that Pentax will still exist; however, it will no longer be sold as shares of stock on the Japanese stock market.

    Here is a link to the letter:
    http://www.pentaximaging.com/footer/news_media_article?ArticleId=10375275

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  7. Already Hoya hold 90% of shareholding in Pentax and Pentax Corp. (the holding co.) holds just 0.15%. For all practical purposes, this is just a change of name of the company and : Asahi to Pentax to Hoya. The Pentax brand will survive. Of course, Mr. Tanishima will lose his job, but more important is how many key managers and engineers Hoya will be able to retain from Pentax. And most important is: shall I see that "full-frame" K1D and "Limited" zooms of my dreams soon enough? :-)

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  8. This is quite sad as a news!

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  9. Pentax is not a division of Hoya, rather than a wholly owned subsidiary. Why is this a sad or happy event? It is neither unless you are a former Pentax employee chafing from reporting to Hoya instead of Pentax management. Then again, you could be a gratified employee who has one fewer layer of bureaucracy to ford in order to get something approved.

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