Nikon has announced its acquisition of RED, a high-end motion picture camera company, for an undisclosed sum. In a statement, the camera giant, which has suffered along with much of the imaging industry in recent years, said RED will become a wholly-owned subsidiary. as found by The Verge. RED currently has about 220 employees, and no layoff plans have been announced in response to the sale.
RED was founded in 2005, and since then its cameras have been used in popular productions, including Squid Game, Peaky Blinders and Captain Marvel — Nikon plans to expand the market with this acquisition. Nikon withdrew from less profitable areas the end of the development of the camera market in recent years, including the new DSLRs
The move could benefit both parties, according to RED president Jarred Lang Shared on Facebook: “This strategic partnership brings together Nikon’s extensive history and expertise in product development, image processing know-how, and optical technology and user interface with RED’s revolutionary digital cinema cameras and award-winning technologies.” RED’s own expansion attempt in 2018 (on smartphones, no less) didn’t last long, and the products were soon discontinued.
Interestingly, RED sued the new owner of Nikon’s Z9 camera in 2022, alleging that it knowingly used RED’s patented data compression technology. Nikon, for its part, defended the legality of RED’s patents until the two companies agreed to a dismissal.
