[Leica] Re: Porsche and Leica

[douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp)]

Rick Dykstra wrote:
> Can you imagine the noise at a shareholders' meeting if there was a 
> LHSA/LUG buyout?  Half would want to put Leica back to where is was when 
> making 'the last decent body - the M3' and the other half would be 
> screaming for autofocus, carbon fibre and wireless.
> 
> But there never was a better time to organise a buyout by customers.  
> The internet makes it possible.  Are there any examples, of a buyout by 
> customers/fans, not just by employees?
> 
> Rick.
> 
Hello Rick, probably not quite what you were thinking of, but .......
Most of the steam trains still running in the UK, and the tracks to run them 
on, 
were bought from British Railways and run by fans and enthusiasts. A couple 
of 
these privatised railways, started as non-profit organisations, are now 
becoming 
an integral part of local public transport systems. Industrial museums as a 
commercial venture often started in the same way, buying out factories 
before 
they close and continuing production in a museum environment - usually 
textile 
and water powered flour mills. I seem to remember that there were also a 
couple 
of small breweries which went the same way.
cheers
Douglas