“Nikon Corporation (Nikon) hereby announces its entry into an agreement to acquire 100% of the outstanding membership interests of RED.com, LLC (RED) whereby RED will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nikon”
This is an absolutely fascinating acquisition. I think it’s safe to say this is the largest acquisition ever in the photo/video world, with DJI’s effective acquisition of Hasselblad back in 2017 coming in (an arguably distant) second.
I’d have to imagine this acquisition is at least in large part, if not entirely, driven by Nikon and RED’s legal battles over internal RAW video compression, which Nikon implemented in its flagship Z9 camera system. Nikon subsequently faced various lawsuits (1, 2) from RED, but it was eventually dismissed without any further information being shared at the time.
It makes sense to keep RED as a separate subsidiary for now, but I’m more fascinated to see what this buy-out means for Nikon on a larger timeline. Almost overnight, it makes Nikon a massive player in the commercial-level video world, competing with the likes of ARRI, Blackmagic, Canon, Panasonic, and Sony. RED doesn’t particularly have the best image from a PR perspective, but if Nikon plays its cards right, it could soften the patent-troll-like reputation RED has had and become a serious player in the niche cinema market.