Canon Inc. is a Tokyo-based maker of printers, cameras, medical imaging systems and semiconductor equipment. It grew out of a camera laboratory opened in 1933, was incorporated in 1937, reported record net sales of ¥4,624.7 billion (about $29.5 billion) for 2025 and employed 165,547 people. Fujio Mitarai is Chairman and CEO; Kazuto Ogawa became President and COO in March 2026.
How Does Canon Make Money?
Canon sells hardware and then earns recurring revenue from what that hardware consumes and needs. Printing is the largest unit, with ~$16.7 billion (¥2,494.4 billion) of 2025 sales (54%): office multifunction devices brought in ~$7.13 billion (¥1,063.7 billion), prosumer laser and inkjet printers ~$6.66 billion (¥993.4 billion) and production presses ~$2.93 billion (¥437.3 billion). Toner, ink and service contracts on machines already installed account for a large share of that income.
- Imaging, ~$7.07 billion (¥1,054.9 billion) (23%): EOS cameras and RF lenses (~$4.19 billion (¥625.5 billion)) plus Axis network cameras and Milestone video software (~$2.88 billion (¥429.4 billion)).
- Medical, ~$3.89 billion (¥580.6 billion) (13%): CT, MRI, ultrasound and X-ray systems and service.
- Industrial, ~$2.42 billion (¥361.1 billion) (8%): semiconductor and flat-panel lithography, the FPA-1200NZ2C nanoimprint system, Canon Tokki OLED deposition and sputtering equipment.
Canon Revenue and Profit
Sales fell from ~$27.3 billion (¥4,080.0 billion) in 2017 to ~$21.2 billion (¥3,160.2 billion) in 2020, then grew every year to a record ~$31 billion (¥4,624.7 billion) in 2025. Operating profit was ~$3.05 billion (¥455.4 billion) (9.8% margin) and net income attributable to Canon Inc. $2.23 billion (¥332.1 billion), more than double 2024, when a ~$1.11 billion (¥165.1 billion) goodwill impairment on the medical business cut net income to ~$1.07 billion (¥160.0 billion). The Americas supplied 32% of 2025 sales, Europe 26%, Japan 21% and Asia and Oceania 21%.
In the second quarter of 2026 net sales rose 3.6% to a second-quarter record of ~$7.91 billion (¥1,180.9 billion) and operating profit jumped 35.2% to ~$1.07 billion (¥159.2 billion), led by Imaging, where operating profit rose 78.7%. Canon now expects 2026 net sales of ~$32.2 billion (¥4,800.0 billion) and operating profit of ~$3.12 billion (¥465.0 billion).
Who Founded Canon?
Goro Yoshida, his brother-in-law Saburo Uchida and Takeo Maeda opened the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in a Roppongi apartment in November 1933. Yoshida had taken apart a Leica and concluded Japan could build an equal camera. His 1934 Kwanon prototype never went on sale; the first commercial camera was the 1936 Hansa Canon, built with a Nikkor lens from Nippon Kogaku. Obstetrician Takeshi Mitarai, who backed the venture, became president of the incorporated company, Precision Optical Industry, in 1942.
Who Runs Canon?
Fujio Mitarai, born in 1935 and a nephew of Takeshi Mitarai, has run Canon since 1995 and has been Chairman and CEO since 2006. On March 27, 2026 he handed the president title to Kazuto Ogawa, a former head of Canon U.S.A., who became President and COO. In 2023 only 50.59% of votes backed Mitarai's reappointment as a director after criticism of an all-male board; Canon added its first female director in 2024.
Who Are Canon's Competitors?
In printing Canon competes with HP, Ricoh, Konica Minolta, Fujifilm, Kyocera, Xerox, Epson and Brother. In cameras its main rivals are Sony, Nikon and Fujifilm, though Canon has held the No. 1 interchangeable-lens share for 23 straight years. In medical imaging it faces Siemens Healthineers, GE HealthCare and Philips, and in lithography ASML and Nikon.
Canon's Key Acquisitions
Canon's largest deal was the ¥665.5 billion (about $5.9 billion) purchase of Toshiba Medical Systems in 2016, which drew a ~$31.6 million (€28 million) EU fine and $5 million in U.S. penalties over its two-step structure. Other key deals include Tokki (2007), Océ (2010), Molecular Imprints and Milestone Systems (2014), Axis Communications (2015, about $2.8 billion), BriefCam (2018), Redlen Technologies (2021) and the 2026 buyout of Canon Electronics' minority shareholders.
Canon's Strategy and Risks
The Phase VII plan for 2026-2030 targets ~$37.5 billion (¥5.6 trillion) of sales, a 15% operating margin and 15% ROE by 2030. Printing and Imaging are treated as cash generators funding Industrial (target ~$4.02 billion (¥600 billion) of sales), Medical (~$5.03 billion (¥750 billion)) and a space business. The main risks are a medical unit with a projected 5.4% margin in 2025, slow uptake of nanoimprint lithography against ASML's EUV tools, weak office-equipment demand in Europe and the U.S., and leadership succession.
