Not A Kodak Moment: Legendary Camera Maker Files For Bankruptcy Protection

[webfact]

Not a Kodak Moment: Legendary Camera Maker Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Struggling camera maker Kodak said on Wednesday night that it has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

The move, which had been expected, follows years of struggle by the film giant to transition to a digital imaging company. In recent months the company has sought to capitalize on its patents and, in recent days, has sued Apple, HTC and Samsung.

Kodak said it hopes to emerge from bankruptcy in 2013 and intends to conduct business during the restructuring using $950 million in financing from Citigroup. As part of the move, the company said it has named Dominic DiNapoli, vice chairman of FTI Consulting, as its Chief Restructuring Officer.

Here’s the full text of the company’s press release: ROCHESTER...

Source: http://allthingsd.co...for-bankruptcy/

-- allthingsd.com 2012-01-19

[cdnvic]

This makes me sad. I hope the brand lives on in some form.

[endure]

Kodak UK say they're not affected by the chapter 11 and are doing good business in Europe.

[astral]

It will be a shame if the name disappears but as the OP says, the writing

has been on the wall for some time now and they have not been able to react.

[cdnvic]

Very good article in The Economist detailing the rise and fall of Kodak.

LENIN is said to have sneered that a capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him. The quote may be spurious, but it contains a grain of truth. Capitalists quite often invent the technology that destroys their own business.

Eastman Kodak is a picture-perfect example. It built one of the first digital cameras in 1975. That technology, followed by the development of smartphones that double as cameras, has battered Kodak’s old film- and camera-making business almost to death.

http://www.economist.com/node/21542796

[impulse]

I'd be curious to see the compensation and bonus packages of the exec's who drove the company into the ground.....

Edited January 22, 2012 by impulse

[Javabear]

My father worked at Kodak in R&D for 30+ years. He said the sales guys were the problem. The R&D guys came up with all kinds of stuff but the sales guys couldn't figure out how to market it. This happens to a lot of big corporations when the innovators and inventors are pushed out of the leadership and the bean counters take over.