Good grief. Fake News helped elect Donald Trump and now it’s announcing the death of my favorite camera company. A recent story by the Japanese news Nikkei Asian News suggested Panasonic was restructuring and getting out of the camera business. The President of Panasonic suggested they need new profit drivers if Panasonic hopes to double operating profit within two years. Much of the interview was obviously taken out of context, which I was suspicious of from the start since I was told, just last month at a Lumix sales meeting, that Lumix was up by 20% in sales last year. Seems 20% should qualify as a new “profit driver.”
Anyway, Pansonic’s PR department got moving and shared the following “Official Response” below:
“We are clearly dedicated to the imaging business and that will not change. In fact, the camera and video businesses are strong and we continue to invest and the recent success of the Lumix GH5, further supports our organization’s continued focus on developing innovative imaging technology.”
There’s a great take on this story from the folks at EOSHD at Panasonic: We will accelerate the LUMIX project under new structure.
OK, so that should put an end to this Fake News story and we can move ahead with delivery of GH5’s to US dealers this week. I’m going to have mine in my hands tomorrow if all goes well with UPS. Stay tuned.