That's not entirely true. Pentax isn't beholding to any stockholder except to maximize shareholder value. Pentax is not required to commit metaphorical suicide to do so however.
Creditors can force a company to commit suicide, if said company is unable to meet it's obligations, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Pentax. Sparx can try to collect enough shares or proxies thereof to vote in it's own board and replace current Pentax management, however that's much easier said than done. One way to do that however is to continue to question the viability of a company, (Sparx has been doing that for a number of years now, this questioning of Pentax's dedication to shareholder value seems to be only the latest salvo). No, I doubt that Hoya would build a 645D, that's not their business, I'm not even sure it's in Pentax's best interest to put resources into the project. In fact I doubt that Hoya even cares about building Pentax DSLR's of any kind, the imaging division is one that they'd jettison as quickly as they were able. I think you're the one who's being a bit blind. I agree with you that if Sparx got control of Pentax it would be sold to Hoya in an instant. They are bottom line driven, and own a large stake in Pentax, and probably bought it based on that probability. However the Pentax board is dedicated to Pentax's continued existence. They have an emotional attachment to the company, and an emotional attachment to making cameras. I haven't looked it up lately but last time I looked they seemed to be long term veterans. As long as the imaging division is making profits and the company as a whole is healthy they will resist breaking it up. Most Pentax stock, outside of three or four major holdings, is probably owned by investment funds, and small individual investors. Fund managers, and most small investors for that matter, aim for a certain level of return, they have no interest in getting involved with a particular companies management, if a stock loses money, or fails to meet expectations, they sell the stock and buy where there's money to be made. Few will give their proxies to takeover artists, they'll pretty much automatically support the current board, or simply sell their stock. Tom C wrote: > May be... but that's the way the system is set up to work, n'est pas? The > lowest common denominator is money and that's what the whole thing is based > on. > > Pentax accepted Sparx's investment money when shares in Pentax were sold to > Sparx. Pentax is beholden to Sparx. Sparx may indeed not care one iota > about whether Pentax continues to be a camera maker. > > The fact that you, I, and others may happen to enjoy using Pentax products, > does not gurantee anything. They are a minor player in the field of DLSR's > when it comes to market share and profit margin on each unit sold. > > Want to take any bets on whether a Hoya-owned Pentax thinks a 645D is an > undertaking that will generate sufficient profit? > > None of you guys is stupid, you understand the basic principles of stock and > fiscal feasance, but you seem to look with a blind eye regarding the > situation Pentax is in, and particularly the potential future of their > camera divsion. > > > Tom C. > > > >> From: "P. J. Alling" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Reply-To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> >> To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: Pentax Update >> Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:28:07 -0400 >> >> Or we see an investment company trying to maximize it's short term >> investments. >> >> Tom C wrote: >> >>>> I expect Pentax is pretty close to being able to tell Sparx to take a >>>> flying >>>> f#ck at the moon anyway. >>>> >>>> William Robb >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> Why? Sparx is the major shareholder and therefore owns more of Pentax >>> >> than >> >>> any other single entity. >>> >>> What all this shows to me is that there is a marked disconnect between >>> Pentax's popularity surge with the K10D/K100D, as good as that may be, >>> >> and >> >>> their profitability and long term viability in a competitive >>> >> marketplace. >> >>> Tom C. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> -- >> Entropy Seminar: The results of a five yeer studee ntu the sekend lw uf >> thurmodynamiks aand itz inevibl fxt hon shewb rt nslpn raq liot. >> >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> > > > > -- Entropy Seminar: The results of a five yeer studee ntu the sekend lw uf thurmodynamiks aand itz inevibl fxt hon shewb rt nslpn raq liot. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
