This is a speculative move, nothing more. It is neither good nor bad news at this point. So Sony "haters" need to keep a lid on it and Sony fanboys shouldn't get excited. Its a relatively modest sum for a new venture.

It does further emphasis the REAL path Sony is taking though. They are concentrating on business to business technologies, imaging and mobile devices.

I am not sure why people here are going on about cameras and SLR's etc... has nothing to do with that and anything relating to cameras is pure speculation at this point.  Got to laugh at that article and its "japanese business partners are best", the irony of that given that Olympus is one party to this shouldnt be lost on anyone.

"As part of our strategic initiatives announced in April 2012, at Sony we are aggressively pursuing the growth of our medical business, with the aim of developing it into a key pillar of our overall business portfolio," said Sony's chief executive Kazuo Hirai.

Olympus needed some cash after the scandal (exposed when an honourable british businessman challenged the corrupt japanese board over dodgy payments) and Sony see this as an opportunity to join up with Olympus in the new venture for a relatively low cost.

Bad move from Sony. The camera industry is rapidly dying because of smartphones.. Wasting ¥50bn yen on something like this is COMPLETELY insane

Not a good move IMO. Buying Ericcson when they have almost no presence in the smartphone market and this too seems like a similar, expensive venture. Sony is in enough markets as it is.....and now they wanna go into the medical field?.....