Yup, it's all kicking off...! Ricoh has just bought Pentax for £77m (which didn't sound like a lot of money) and, as you say, venture capitalists tend to be mostly interested in a return on their investment (RoI) rather than improving quality and/or service.
(These objective should, of course, lead to an improved RoI but I can't remember the last merger that delivered either.)Can't wait for the forthcoming Hassel-Fuji 10MP instamatronic 3-D digital point and shoot.
Ain't capitalism great......??!!