Cinema camera maker RED acquired by Nikon

In a surprise announcement this morning, Nikon Japan – there has been no word from the UK subsidiary – announced they’ve acquired the cinema camera maker RED, making the US-based independent company a subsidiary.

While it’s not surprising that RED has been acquired – James Jannard was the founder of Oakley sunglasses until moving onto RED cinema cameras-  what is unexpected is that Canon has seemingly missed this opportunity.

Press release:

Nikon Corporation (President: Toshikazu Madate, Minato-ku, Tokyo) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with James Jannard, founder of RED.com, LLC (President: Jarred Land, California, hereinafter referred to as “RED”), a U.S.-based company that develops, manufactures, sells, and services professional cinema cameras, and Jarred Land, the current president. Subject to the satisfaction of various closing conditions, the Company entered into an equity transfer agreement that included the acquisition of all of RED’s interests, and agreed to make RED a subsidiary of the Company.

Since its founding in 2005, RED has been engaged in professional cinema cameras used for filming and commercials. The company has released a number of market-leading products for cinema cameras, including the development of digital cinema cameras such as the RED ONE 4K with its proprietary RAW compression technology and the state-of-the-art V-RAPTOR [X]. RED’s products have been selected for numerous Hollywood productions, including Academy Award winners, and have been praised by directors and cinematographers around the world for their innovation and image quality.

With this acquisition, the strengths of Nikon, which has high reliability in product development and knowledge of image processing technology, user interface, optical technology, etc., and RED, which has cultivated know-how in cinema cameras, including proprietary image compression technology and colour science, will be integrated, enabling the development of distinctive products for professional video equipment. While making the most of the business foundations and networks of both companies, we aim to develop the professional video market, which is expected to expand in the future.

Both parties agreed on the desire to be close to customers and provide an emotional experience that exceeded their expectations, and this agreement was reached. Nikon will continue to contribute to the development of visual culture in the field of moving images, with the aim of further expanding the possibilities of visual expression.