Hasselblad’s CEO, the man credited with pulling the company out of the slums that resulted from the failed rebranding project with Sony, Perry Oosting, will be stepping down from his post at the company next week.
The move was announced this morning and, as is usually the case with these sort of departures, details regarding the move are vague. This does come after rumors that surfaced around CES that a Chinese drone manufacturer had increased their minority stake in Hasselblad to a majority one – effectively becoming the owner of the legendary Swedish camera brand. The silent takeover was never officially confirmed.
According to the official Hasselblad release, Mr. Oosting has decided to step from the CEO role back into his role on the Advisory board, having done what he was tasked with doing (getting the company out of the doldrums). However, how this is all playing out seems to indicate that the move was not planned for long.
Hasselblad’s board has named Paul Bram the company’s interim CEO, but you would think if this move had any sort of planning a new CEO would have been vetted and ready to go from the beginning – no interim tag needed. This leads some to wonder if the move was not Mr. Oosting’s choice, and that maybe it was directed by Hasselblad’s new secret overlords in China. All of that, of course, at this point, is speculation – but interesting speculation none the less.
Paul Bram will assume the interim CEO post effective February 1st. He will come into the role as Hasselblad works to increase production and get pre-orders of their mirrorless X1D system shipped. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of this move in the short term – and especially in the long run.
