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Xerox Cedes Control To Fujifilm, Ending Its Independence (bloomberg.com)
mikeebbbd writes: According to Bloomberg, "Xerox, a once-iconic American innovator that became synonymous with office copy machines, is ceding control to Japan's Fujifilm in a deal that creates an $18 billion company." Essentially, it's merging with Fujifilm; a former joint venture operating in the Asian-Pacific area essentially will become the parent company... So much for the company that actually invented the modern graphical user interface later popularized by Apple and Microsoft. "The agreement marks the end of independence for a U.S. company whose roots trace back to the start of the 20th century," reports Bloomberg. "The joint venture will cut 10,000 jobs in Asia as part of the restructuring as the Japanese company struggles with an 'increasingly severe' market environment." While the new company will have a combined revenue of $18 billion, Xerox was acquired by Fujifilm for $6.1 billion.
I was there one day and walked by an office that said John von Neumann. I don't think he showed up very often.
What a poster boy for not allowing the accountants to run the business. They owned 30 years of the future of computing, and squandered every bit. They could have been Apple and a few other companies, combined.
Bruce Perens.
... Excellent ... seriously though, the writing was on the wall when they hired that woman and started shedding the R&D while refusing to lower prices on their wax based printers because "we are the only ones on the market and people will pay for our patents".
I know some people working at Xerox, the company became all about following process (6-sigma) and profit and anything innovative that didn't make a profit right away was spun off and then those spinoffs got VC funding and made incredible profits.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
And what did it take to change the whole Future of Computing?
One Guy, who attended the PARC meetings. ( I was at a few, many years later.)
This one guy would show off his home made "Computer" with these cheap chips that he would make do things that the chip makers didn't think was possible.
And he made it so inexpensive that everyone would eventually have it.
The Innovation and Synergy was there in those people and the enthusiasm of building these things for fun is really what drives the future.
Yes it took someone else with a business sense to bring it to the market and not get ripped off or sucked into a larger company.
The innovation is still here, if you have the passion to look beyond the normal.
The cycle will continue with these new companies replacing the larger ones now in new markets.
Steve 'Woz' is the guy and there should be a statue of him.