Olympus is getting out of its 84-year-old camera business.
The Japanese imaging company, which makes most of its money from medical equipment, announced Wednesday it will sell its camera business to Japan Industrial Partners -- the company that acquired VAIO from Sony in 2014.
The sale marks an end to of Olympus' consumer camera business that began in 1936, when it introduced the Zuiko-branded camera. It sold its first lightweight SLR camera under the "OM" brand in 1972 and its Infinity Stylus compact point-and-shoot camera in 1991.
Olympus launched its first digital camera in 1996, helping — alongside competitors such as Kodak and Fujifilm — to usher in the digital camera revolution with its signature Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens system.
But smartphones devastated the digital camera business, and Olympus' consumer camera division recorded operating losses in each of the last three years -- even after attempts at restructuring.
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