Did you hear Kodak may file Chapter 11?
The ailing photography pioneer's shares fell to a new all-time low after the Wall Street Journal reported that Kodak is preparing for a Chapter 11 filing "in the coming weeks" should it fail to sell a trove of 1,100 digital-imaging patents.
The New York Stock Exchange warned Kodak this week that its shares would be "delisted" — or dropped from the exchange's listings — if they stay below $1 for six more months.
Since 2005, Kodak has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into new lines of inkjet printers that are finally on the verge of turning a profit. Home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging are viewed as Kodak's new core.
full article: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/report-kodak-file-bankruptcy-15296009
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rookie3001
asked 5 months ago
Its really pretty sad. I went to school in Rochester, NY, where Kodak got started. Both of the schools I went to (RIT and the University of Rochester) had quads dedicated to Eastman/Kodak. U of R even has the Eastman School of Music. It used to be the largest employer in Rochester. Now its fallen off the face of the earth. (U of R Med Center is now the largest employer).
One of my uncles worked for them for 15 years and was in senior management with their biotechnology wing. He was asked to resign in 2007 when they gave up that part of their business. It's really too bad, left a lot of people out of work and now looks like it will put even more people out.
I thought this was standard business practice. File, then have a resurgence.
I'm a little surprised it has taken so long. Their niche was film and so many people use digital now. My prediction: CD's and DVD's will soon go the way of film as more people choose to download their media instead of purchasing a hard copy.
I think that it was their prolonged anti-digital stance that did them in. When they finally got on board it was a saturated market. If they'd have led the charge their infrastructure and expertise would have been huge advantages.
My selfish concern is the 3 kodak pulse frames we bought for grandparents this Christmas. The cool part about them is the ability to email pictures straight to the frame. The email is at kodakpulse . com, so I assume if the restructure doesn't go well, that won't work anymore...
Heard it on NPR. Sad. They still made the best photo paper IMO.
Spending all that money to have their printers featured on Celebrity Apprentice really worked well, huh?
But in all seriousness, it really is sad to see another American icon go the way of the Dodo... If they can't restructure, the name will be snapped up by some foreign company and used to sell crappy TVs, printers, digicams, etc, just like Polaroid.
I don't understand how selling patents is going to get them out of this hole. A temporary injection of cash may forestall the inevitible, but won't solve the core problem: they were too late to the digitial game and don't have any (or enough) compelling products to make a go of it.
Perhaps Chapter 11 is the way to go. The take a page from TiVo's book: make money the old fashioned way. Sue people of the basis of questionable interpretations of you large patent portfolio.
Wikipedia's article on Eastman Kodak has a timeline of their history, and there's nothing on it at all from 1994 to 2003. That's not by accident either, they basically took a nap during the digital photography revolution hoping they'd wake up and it would all have been a dream.
I can't say I'm happy about the loss of yet another iconic American brand, but maybe it'll be one more cautionary chapter in the big book of reasons businesses should work with technology rather than against it.
@starblind: not entirely true. they have attempted to survive off of patent licensing and/or sale for the past year or two; most of which lie in the digital photography space. they weren't resting on their haunches as digital photography took over, they just made several poor decisions within their marketing mix. understandable considering their roots.
My first Woot was a Kodak printer. I'm now on my second one thanks to the new wireless models. I hope they're around for a long time. And they finally started shipping decent cameras, too.
@wilfbrim: They weren't too late. One of my first digital cameras was a Kodak, and that was in the late 90s. The problem is they weren't known for quality cameras for a long time. They've been an entry level camera company or lower since what...Kodachrome? the Disc? They could have done more projection and presentation equipment, but they just never got the idea of high quality and went mass market.
Also doesn't help when a large portion of your sales are those disposable cameras and those are useless in the age of cell phone cameras.
If they brought back the polaroid camera (maybe w/ a modern twist) they could come back like apple in the 80s
@psumek: I should have been more specific: too late to the correct place in the digitial arena. Kodak did make entry level cameras, but the most profitable portions of it's lines were the high quality professional photo papers and films (print and slide).
A better way to go would have been to try and capitalize on the perception that Kodak=high quality and push that. Hard to do, but maybe would have been better. They were on the right track with their newer printers, but some unfortunately quality issues early on probably killed them for good.
@byebyeburdie: kodak and polaroid are two different companies; the latter filed chapter 11 a few months ago.
I was not aware of that.
In my opinion, Kodak Endura paper is still the best color photo paper. I hope they or someone else continues to make it. It's nice to get photos on paper that will last 100 years, give or take a decade or two. Pictures won't last nearly as long on ANY other format.
I have heard, but as we know chapter 11 doesn't mean the end of a brand. They were to slow to adapt but maybe when they come out of this they will be better able to change with the market and demand. From what I've heard they have a few great products but a lot of dead weight.
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