Olympus to Cut 2,700 Jobs by 2014

Olympus has announced it will trim its workforce by 7 percent and restructure its global operations as part of its new “Back to Basics” philosophy.

World wide, the company will cut about 2,700 jobs. It is unclear yet how this will affect its Center Valley Olympus America corporate headquarters, which employs about 800 people.

at that location in July of last year. Olympus manufactures digital cameras, voice recorders, diagnostic systems, medical
systems and film cameras, photo printers, microscopes and imaging systems, according to the company website.

The global job cuts will take place from now until the end of March 2014, the company said in a press release Friday.

“We aim to regain the credibility of our stakeholders, rebuild Olympus, and create new corporate value by going back to the basic values that existed when Olympus was first established and looking ahead to a fresh start,” says the announcement.

In the wake of a whistle-blower scandal in which he exposed irregular accounting practices and , company CEO Michael Woodford was granted a $15.4 million settlement after being fired after only two weeks on the job last October. Several company officers have since been arrested for their alleged involvement in covering up investment losses that go back as far as the 1990s.

It has been reported the Tokyo-based corporation has been in talks with a number of companies, including Fujifilm, Panasonic, Sony and Terumon regarding a capital alliance since April, but there has been no finalization of a partnership with any of them. It is not expected that such a deal will affect Olympus' decision to lay off workers.

In Friday's press release, the “medium-term vision” for the firm outlines its plans to:

• “contribute to society and its development through products and solutions”
• “continuously strive to develop the world's first and best products
• “focus on customers and customer needs”

The release additionally says, “By designating the 'Medical Business,' 'Life Science & Industrial Business' and 'Imaging Business' as our core business domains, we will invest our management resources strategically with a special focus on the 'Medical Business.'”

Olympus reported losing $615.81 million and saw a 7.5 percent fall in its operating profit for the fiscal year, which ended in March.