Reuters/NHK: Sony to put $50 billion yen in Olympus, get stake

A trio of updates at Reuters suggest that according to sources at NHK and Reuters, Sony and Olympus are working towards finalizing an agreement, where Sony will put $50 billion yen ($650 million USD) into Olympus, in return for a stake (not a steak). Furthermore, the NHK report (use Chrome for automatic computer-translation) talks of "co-operation and joint development of parts". This is computer-translated and vague enough that could mean just about anything. For example, Olympus might use more Sony sensors. Or the co-operation might be in other behind-the-scenes and/or logistical/procedural/etc ways. Or something more fundamental...

It will be interesting to see whether/how this will impact the digital camera business when it is all said and done, both in terms of Sony and Olympus, and also in terms of the reactions of other manufacturers (eg Panasonic).