Olympus Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of optics and reprography products, headquartered in Hachioji, Tokyo. Olympus was founded on October 12, 1919 as Takachiho Seisakusho by Takeshi Yamashita, initially specializing in microscopes and thermometers, and later in imaging. In 1921, the name Olympus was registered as a trademark. In 1942, the company was renamed Takachiho Optical Industries, and in 1949 it was renamed Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. In 2003, the company adopted its current name, Olympus Corporation.
Olympus holds roughly a 70 percent share of the global endoscope market, estimated to be worth approximately US$2.5 billion. As of 2025, endoscopes and related surgical technologies are now Olympus's exclusive product line. It was formerly also a maker of cameras, camera lenses and dictaphones, until it divested this part to OM Digital Solutions in 2020. It divested from its microscopy and scientific imaging division in 2023, selling it to Bain Capital for approximately $3.1 billion; the division operates as Evident Corporation.
In 2011, Olympus attracted worldwide media scrutiny when it fired its CEO Michael Christopher Woodford for whistleblowing, and the matter snowballed into a corporate corruption investigation with multiple arrests. In 2016, it paid US$646 million (equivalent to $825 million in 2024) in fines associated with its illegal, long running, kickback scheme.
Contents
Products
Cameras and audio
In 1936, Olympus introduced its first camera, the Semi-Olympus I, fitted with the first Zuiko-branded lens. The Olympus Chrome Six was a series of folding cameras made by Takachiho, and later Olympus, from 1948 to 1956, for 6×4.5 cm or 6×6 cm exposures on 120 film.
The first innovative camera series from Olympus was the Pen, launched in 1959. It used a half-frame format, taking 72 18×24 mm photographs on a standard 36-exposure 35mm film cassette, which made Pen cameras compact and portable for their time.
The Pen system design team, led by Yoshihisa Maitani, later created the OM system, a full-frame professional 35mm SLR system designed to compete with Nikon and Canon's bestsellers. The OM system introduced a new trend towards more compact cameras and lenses, being much smaller than its competitors and presenting innovative design features such as off-the-film (OTF) metering and OTF flash automation. Eventually, the system included 14 different bodies, approximately 60 Zuiko-branded lenses, and numerous camera accessories.
In 1983, Olympus, along with Canon, branded a range of video recording equipment manufactured by JVC, and called it "Olympus Video Photography", even employing renowned photographer Terance Donovan to promote the range. A second version of the system was available the year after, but this was Olympus's last foray into the world of consumer video equipment until digital cameras became popular.
Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who was later to become president of Olympus, foresaw the demand for the digital SLR, and is credited with the company's strategy in digital photography. He fought for commitment by Olympus to enter the market in high-resolution photographic products. As a result of his efforts, Olympus released an 810,000-pixel digital camera for the mass market in 1996, when the resolution of rivals' offerings was less than half. The next year, Olympus hit the market with a 1.41 million pixel camera. By 2001, the company's annual turnover from digital photography was in excess of ¥100 billion. Olympus manufactures compact digital cameras and is the designer of the Four Thirds system standard for digital single-lens reflex cameras. Olympus's Four Thirds system flagship DSLR camera was the E-5, released in 2010. Olympus is also the largest manufacturer of Four Thirds lenses, under the Zuiko Digital brand. After the introduction of the Micro Four Thirds system, and the general market growth of the Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras, the regular Four Thirds system became neglected. Then, in 2017, after three years without a new lens, and seven years without a new body, Olympus officially discontinued the Four Thirds system
Medical and surgical
Olympus manufactures endoscopic, ultrasound, electrocautery, endotherapy, and cleaning and disinfection equipment. The first flexible endoscope in the world was co-developed and manufactured by Olympus in Tokyo. In 1987, KeyMed Medical & Industrial Equipment, a British manufacturer was purchased. With a comprehensive product range, Olympus accounts for a large share of the world market in gastrointestinal endoscopes. It has roughly 70% share of the global market which is estimated valued at US$2.5 billion. On 28 September 2012, Olympus and Sony announced that the two companies will establish a joint venture—Sony Olympus Medical Solutions Inc—to develop new surgical endoscopes with 4K resolution (or higher) and 3D capability. On 16 September 2015, Sony Olympus Medical Solutions Inc announced that their jointly developed 4K surgical endoscopy system would be commercialized and made available for purchase in early October 2015, and would be sold by Olympus under the brand name "VISERA 4K UHD".
Olympus has acquired the Israeli medical device company Medi-Tate, a move aimed at enhancing its portfolio in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The acquisition, finalized in February 2021, strengthens Olympus' position in the urological devices market.
Medi-Tate specializes in the research, development, manufacturing, and sale of devices designed for minimally invasive treatment of BPH. Its flagship product, the iTind, is a temporarily implanted nitinol device that alleviates lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) associated with BPH. The iTind procedure can be performed by a urologist in various settings, including outpatient hospital facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, or a doctor's office. The device works by gradually expanding and applying gentle pressure at three specific points, reshaping the prostatic urethra and the bladder neck to provide symptom relief.
On 14 September 2022, Sony Olympus Medical Solutions Inc announced that it developed a new model of its 4K surgical endoscopy system, which also allows for Infared imaging and Narrow Band imaging. This new model was made available for purchase in September 2022 by Olympus in Europe, Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia, Oceania and Japan under the name "VISERA ELITE III". On 15 January 2024, Canon Medical Systems Corporation and Olympus Corporation announced that they reached an agreement to collaborate on a jointly developed Endoscopic Ultrasound System (EUS) that takes advantage of both companies’ experience in endoscopy and sonography.
Scientific
Since the beginning, the company has been a manufacturer of microscopes and optics for specialised needs, such as medical use. The first microscope manufactured at Olympus was called the Asahi. Currently, Olympus is a worldwide manufacturer of microscopes. Olympus offers a range of microscopes, which covers applications from education and routine studies up to research imaging systems, both in life science and materials science.
Olympus Scientific Solutions Americas Corporation is a Waltham, Massachusetts-based manufacturer, and is a subsidiary of Olympus Corporation. One of its companies, for example, is Olympus Imaging and Measuring Systems, specializing in imaging instruments for testing and measurement during industrial inspections. In April 2022, Olympus Scientific rebranded itself as Evident Corporation, and at first was a wholly owned subsidiary of Olympus corporation. However, a year later, Evident was acquired by Bain Capital.
Industrial
Olympus manufactures and sells industrial scanners, flaw detectors, probes and transducers, thickness gages, digital cameras, image analysis software, industrial videoscopes, fiberscopes, light sources, XRF and XRD analyzers, and high-speed video cameras.
Name and logo
1919: The company was founded as Takachiho Seisakusho (高千穂製作所). In Japanese mythology, deities live on Takamagahara, the peak of Mt. Takachiho. The first corporate logo was TOKIWA, derived from Tokiwa Shokai, the company that the founder, Takeshi Yamashita, had worked for. Tokiwa Shokai held an equity stake in Takachiho Seisakusho and was responsible for marketing Takachiho products. The logo reads "TOKIWA TOKYO". The "G" and "M" marks above are believed to be the initials of Goro Matsukata, the president of Tokiwa Shokai.
1921: The Olympus brand was introduced in February 1921. This logo was used for microscopes and other products. Brochures and newspaper ads for cameras also used this logo. The OLYMPUS TOKYO logo is still in use today. There was a period in which OIC was used instead of TOKYO in the logo. OIC stood for Optical Industrial Company, which was a translation of Olympus's Japanese corporate name at that time. This logo was used for the GT-I and GT-II endoscopes, among others.
1942: The company was renamed to Takachiho Optical Co., Ltd., when optical products became the mainstay of the company.
1949: The name changed to Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. It was named after Mount Olympus, which like Mt. Takachiho is the home of gods, this time of Greek mythology. In the words of the company, they chose the name to "reflect its strong aspiration to create high-quality, world-famous products".
1970: The new logo was designed to give impressions of quality and sophistication.
2001: The yellow line underneath the new logo is called the "Opto-Digital Pattern" and it represents light and boundless possibilities of digital technology. It symbolizes dynamic and innovative nature of Opto-Digital Technology and Olympus Corporation. This logo is called the Communication Symbol of Olympus and it represents Olympus's brand image.
2003: Renamed to Olympus Corporation.
Corporate affairs
Ownership
Shareholding in Olympus is dispersed, and the company's key institutional investors are largely passive. As of 31 March 2011, investors included Nippon Life Insurance (8.4%), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (4.98%), and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking (3.13%), and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (2.55%). Foreign institutions and individuals spoke for 27.71% of Olympus shares. On 28 September 2012, Olympus and Sony announced that Olympus would receive a 50 billion yen capital injection from Sony. On 22 February 2013, Sony became the largest shareholder (11.46%) of Olympus, later cutting that stake in half during one of its own restructurings, only to sell its entire remaining stake in Olympus, totaling 5% of the company, after a request by activist investor Daniel S. Loeb to do so, in 2019.
Governance
According to its 2011 Annual Report, Olympus was governed by a 15-person board of directors, with Tsuyoshi Kikukawa its president and CEO, and Michael C. Woodford as president and chief operating officer. Mr Kikukawa resigned in the following year and was arrested by Tokyo police for alleged criminal offenses during and before his term as president and CEO. The corporation in 2011 had three "outside directors". It had a four-member 'Board of Auditors' which supervises and audits directors' performance. The company's executive committee consisted of 28 members, responsible for the day-to-day operations.
Scandals
2011 accounting scandal
In 2011, the company attracted worldwide media scrutiny when it fired its newly appointed English chief executive (CEO) Michael Christopher Woodford, a 30-year Olympus veteran, for probing into financial irregularities and unexplained payments totaling hundreds of millions of US dollars. Although the board initially dismissed Woodford's concerns via mass media as "disruptive" and Woodford himself as failing to grasp the local culture, the matter quickly snowballed into a corporate corruption scandal concerning alleged concealment of more than ¥117.7 billion ($1.5 billion) in investment losses, kickbacks, and covert payments to criminal organizations dating back as far as the 1980s. One of the longest-lasting accounting scandals in Japanese corporate history, the incident wiped out over three-quarters of the company's valuation and led much of the board to resign in disgrace. Investigations were launched across Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, culminating in the arrests of numerous corporate directors, senior managers, auditors, and bankers and raising significant concerns over prevailing standards of corporate governance and transparency, as well as the state of Japanese financial markets. Woodford himself, who stated he had received death threats for his role in exposing the cover-up, was reportedly awarded £10 million ($16 million) in damages for defamation and wrongful dismissal. In the wake of this turmoil, Olympus announced plans to shed 2,700 jobs (seven percent of its workforce) and shut 40 percent of its 30 manufacturing plants by 2015.
On 1 April 2011, Michael Christopher Woodford, 51, was named president and chief operating officer – the first ever foreigner to hold the position – replacing Kikukawa, who became chairman. Woodford, an Olympus veteran of 30 years, was previously executive managing director of Olympus Medical Systems Europa. Olympus appointed Woodford its CEO six months later, but the board suddenly removed him as chief executive two weeks into the job, while allowing him to retain his board seat.
Woodford alleged that his removal was linked to several prior acquisitions he questioned, particularly the US$2.2 billion deal in 2008 to acquire British medical equipment maker Gyrus Group. Thomson Reuters reported that US$687 million was paid to a middle-man as a success fee – a sum equal to 31% of the purchase price, and which ranks as the highest ever M&A fee. According to the Daily Telegraph, some of the sums paid out relating to the acquisition of a technology company ITX were also under examination. Woodford noted that an article in Japanese financial magazine Facta in July prompted his suspicion of the transactions. Reports also said the company acquired three other Japanese companies outside its core business, and recognised that the assets were worth US$721 million less than their acquisition value 12 months previously.
2024 CEO resignation
On October 28, 2024, CEO Stefan Kaufmann was forced to resign by the Olympus board of directors after allegations of purchasing illegal narcotics. Preceding executive Yasuo Takeuchi was assigned the new CEO. Share prices dropped by 6% following the news. On November 28, a 44-year-old man was re-arrested on drug dealing and extortion charges, allegedly forcing Kaufmann to pay 9,150,000 yen across 23 payments as hush money. Kaufmann was later sentenced by the Tokyo District court to 10 months in prison. The presiding judge commented: "It is clear he had a deep involvement with illegal drugs and was dependent on them."