Nikon to Acquire US Cinema Camera Manufacturer RED.com, LLC

[chambeshi]

More excerpts from Nikon's financial report
A comparatively small cost for the company to add several entirely new cameras - a new high end category in fact - to its Imaging product line....

Including new hardware (sensors) and software (namely RED Raw and Post Processing Apps) technology, and a strong brand name

The Price That Nikon Paid for RED: $85 Million - Y.M.Cinema Magazine

$85 Million. That was the price Nikon paid for RED. That’s not a huge price for owning the privilege to penetrate the cinema market.

ymcinema.com

 

[Mark Phelan]

Nikon Bought RED for Just $85M

Not a bad deal.

petapixel.com

Nikon didn't pay as much for RED as you may think - Newsshooter

Nikon's acquisition of RED.com LLC didn't cost as much as you may think. In Japan, the financial year for businesses ends on the 31st of March.

www.newsshooter.com

I remember Jim saying a long time ago about the best way to become a millionaire in the camera world was to start your own company. RED was a passion project for him and we got to come along for the ride. And what a ride it has been! I am forever grateful for the opportunity and am very excited to see what Nikon will do going forward. This was always a known quantity, Jim was going to sell RED at some point. He could not have picked a better company than Nikon. Thank you, Jim and Jarred!

 

[Emanuel A.]

Before this purchase RED reportedly had a little over 200 employees so yes they were known to clearly be a relatively small company.
Considering the nearly 40 camera models they put out across 18-19 years they were consistently punching out of their weight class
against established companies (Arri is over 100 years old) with much greater resources (Sony being a multinational conglomerate).

(...)

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

Means now 1-2% inside the bigger company, well... still a great deal for Nikon IMHO... I would have estimated up to five times more TBH here but what do I know? :- )

 

[Randall Weatherington]

Jim also said that to become a millionaire, start with a billion dollars, and start a camera company.

 

[chambeshi]

Catching Up For The Month I Was Away | Thom Hogan

What happened in the Z System while Thom was offline in April and early May

www.zsystemuser.com

See 5/9 — Nikon announced fiscal year results

".....Be careful of the sites citing the RED purchase as "the deal of the century," as the actual sales, profit, assets, and liabilities of RED are still unknown, and you'd need to know those numbers to make a proper assessment. It's more likely that there was some distress within RED, which resulted in the lowish acquisition price. One likely problem, particularly given the interviews that have been given since the deal was announced, is that the investment cost of future silicon options at RED was starting to exceed their resources. Nikon provides deep pockets and shared tech that would help with that...."

And previous to this the same article: "...While I still expect Nikon and RED products to be separate for the foreseeable future, the appointment of an imaging-savvy Japanese executive at RED indicates to me that Nikon is very serious about making an impact in the video industry, and consolidating RED under the Nikon Imaging umbrella...."

 

[Brian Timmons]

????
Is this $44,000 USD (which seems like a very low number) or perhaps the value of feet in film mags?
Really though, trying to understand that number.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

I do need to clarify. I have a huge amount of respect for what Aaton bought to cinema as a company
particularly with founder Jean-Pierre Beauviala.

It put's in perspective the realities of how damaging the pandemic and strikes have been on the industry
and the continuing impact they have on the business.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

 

[Emanuel A.]

I do need to clarify. I have a huge amount of respect for what Aaton bought to cinema as a company
particularly with founder Jean-Pierre Beauviala.

It put's in perspective the realities of how damaging the pandemic and strikes have been on the industry
and the continuing impact they have on the business.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

Of course, you've just found it a weird number as most part of us have found this deal as a massive opportunity for Nikon. Someone has called it 'the deal of the century', maybe a bit overloaded but far to be nonsense, at least to me :- )

 

[Brian Timmons]

Someone has called it 'the deal of the century', maybe a bit overloaded but far to be nonsense, at least to me :- )

While there are some astute observations out there about the Nikon/RED sale, there are also a decent amount of unhinged comments that are bordering on the deep end of mental distress.

The level of ill will if not hate is crazy for what is essentially a niche camera company.
I can think of a few pharmaceutical companies and weapons manufacturers that would be a better fit.

To my knowledge unorthodox branding
or published DR results never maimed or killed anyone but I digress.

As a result there is a lot of distortion out there that creates much more noise to signal.

Some of the industry journalism out there has unfortunately participated in this as well.

RED was never a perfect company and there are some legit criticisms concerning them but they have done way more good for the industry particularly in breaking the industry induced “technological caste system” that long existed before RED and perhaps inspired the company to be established in the 1st place.

Take RED out the equation for what is available for the owner/op in the cinema space and see just how limited the choices are.

Imagine if Komodo and Komodo X didn’t exist or if V-Raptor disappeared and we just had Burano as the $25-$30k choice or Venice or anything Arri which is considerably more money.

BMD (among others) are making notable progress but they still have not got right what RED already did in it’s 1st 5 or so years and the quality is still not there (specs don’t tell the full story).

I remember the limited choices in price to performance in the past and truly do not want to see those days come back.

nuff said. Got a busy shoot schedule for the next week. Will see how this deal ultimately goes.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

 

[M.Halsell]

You should stop drinking from an empty cup when you hear the slurping sound or feel that no more liquid is coming through the straw or into your mouth. Continuing to drink from an empty cup not only creates noise but can also lead to inhaling air, which might cause discomfort. Additionally, it signals that the beverage is finished, and it's time to either refill the cup or discard it.