Canon Inc. in Japan announced today that they’ve had a record profit in the 2007 year, pulling in 756.67 billion yen in operating profit and a whopping 488.33 billion yen in net profit. Who wants to get in the camera business? 

With the US market being somewhat lukewarm due to an uncertain economy, Canon fell short of its profit targets, but still certainly pulled in quite a bit of money. Here’s what an article from Forbes.com had to say:

The maker of Ixy, Powershot and EOS digital cameras fell short of its revenue and profit targets because economic uncertainties in the US slowed its sales not only there but also globally in the fourth quarter, the company said.

Despite lingering jitters over the US economic outlook and the yen’s recent strength, Canon is forecasting another set of record earnings in 2008, predicting that economic conditions will recover in the second half.

Keep in mind that what they’re talking about, and what most of the news channels in America have been talking about, is that while their profits are slowing down (slightly) in growth, it’s still growing. Companies like Canon are seeing a growing profit margin, just not as large as they like. So when you see another doom and gloom analyst on the TV talking about the fall of civilization due to a failing economy, just point to companies like Canon. They’re still making lots and lots of money, much like the American economy, it just isn’t growing as much as it has in the past.