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Great Beyo
nd
500 days ago
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Kodak on the verge of Chapter 11!
Kodak is currently shedding $70 million a month as it tries to shift its business model from film to printers. The entire situation is quite sad when you realize how intertwined Kodak is to not just America's past, but the collective photographic memories of everyone with a photo album. According to WSJ sources, unless the company finds buyers for its patents, Kodak could file for Chapter 11 as soon as this month:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/62167 … ing-report
Mind you, it's not all doom and gloom:
http://www.canada.com/technology/Kodak+ … story.html
And if you want to wax nostalgic, a pretty concise history of Kodak and it's problems:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-h … 980.column
Above and beyond my current love of film, it's a sad day. Not even for just photographers, but for everyone. I'd be hard pressed to come up with a company that is as well-entrenched part of Americana as Kodak is.
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superdewa
499 days ago
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I know. It's upsetting.
I've been wondering, does this mean we should start buying up kodak film or will that be okay for a while?
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don hodgdo
n
499 days ago
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I find it difficult to have any sympathy for Kodak. It was their own arrogance that took them down. Kodak invented digital photography and then turned their back on the medium. Their professional products division was an absolute nightmare to work with and it was no surprise to me when Fuji began to eat into their market share. The company that popularized photography, that made it possible for everyone to afford a camera, that brought us Kodachrome, arguably the greatest film stock in history, lost their way many years ago and were never able to recover their mojo. Now they want to sell the only thing they have of value, their patents, in an attempt to put off the inevitable. What will they have left? They want to save the company making desktop printers? Please...Epson will crush them.
I'll shed no tears for the Big Yellow Box.
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Great Beyo
nd
498 days ago
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I imagine that since we're a couple of months away from the official Chapter 11 going into effect, there's not a need - yet - to panic and buy every Kodak emulsion you can get your hands on. Mind you, I'm keeping my eye on the story and if it starts to go south, I'm loading up on my Portra 400 baby!
That and bankruptcy doesn't instantly mean death for the company. If they're smart, they'll just sell off the parts of the company that are hemorrhaging money (most of it) and the associated patents to pay off the debts, leaving a smaller, and profitable Kodak behind. Who knows - they might sell their Kodachrome patent to someone else (who then starts up production again - wishful thinking, I know).
I find it difficult to have any sympathy for Kodak.
I wont deny that the heads of Kodak have been idiots for a couple of decades now, but you have to admit that NONE of us would be where we are right now if it hadn't been for the proceeding 80-ish years before that. At the end, it's just another big, faceless corporation and we really shouldn't get worked up about it any more than Toys R Us shutting down 150 stores - but there's still that twinge of nostalgia.
Here, I'll let Don Draper make the point - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus
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don hodgdo
n
498 days ago
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GB, you are right, Kodak made it possible for us to create the images we all enjoy so much and I don't deny the contributions they made to our culture and our history. I just hate seeing a good thing wasted. I really feel bad for all those folks that worked in Rochester and all the other Kodak facilities around the world who are now out of work because of corporate greed and lack of foresight.
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Candace
498 days ago
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Ohhhh, Don Draper can make some awesome points. When is Mad Men coming back anyway? That's a really lovely segment.
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Great Beyo
nd
442 days ago
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Ouch, and the long slow spiral into irrelevance continues, with Kodak discontinuing Ektachrome E100G, E100VS and Elite Chrome Extra Color 100. They're still doing Reversal film and the B&W films - but if it's slide film, it's done.
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professi … -path=1229
Along with that, Kodak announced that employment in Rochester had shrunk to 5109 workers. That's down from over 60,000 employees in Rochester 30 years ago.
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Great Beyo
nd
186 days ago
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Man, I'd love to know what kind of brainchildren they have over there. With Kodak needing a serious restructuring, apparently Upper Management has decided to go further in debt:
ROCHESTER, N.Y., November 12 — Eastman Kodak Company announced today that it has entered into a commitment letter to secure $793 million in Junior Debtor-in-Possession Financing with Centerbridge Partners, L.P., GSO Capital Partners LP, UBS and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to provide the company with additional case financing and establishes the ability to convert a substantial part of the facility into exit financing, enhancing its liquidity and securing a major component of the company’s exit capital structure. This financing is a key element in the steps to enable the company to successfully execute its remaining reorganization objectives and emerge from Chapter 11 in the first half of 2013.
The commitment letter also contains provisions allowing for the conversion of up to $567 million of the loans into exit financing provided that Kodak meets certain conditions including the consummation of a Plan of Reorganization by September 30, 2013, the resolution of all of Kodak’s UK pension obligations and the completion of all or a portion of the sales of Kodak’s Document Imaging and Personalized Imaging businesses.
The financing is subject to completion of definitive financing documentation and Bankruptcy Court approval at a hearing in December which will be scheduled in the near future.
So Kodak is going to get nearly 800 million in the short term, but they have to clear at least a half a billion on their patent sales? Patent sales that have not been exactly a roaring success? That's not a good sign. What's left for Kodak to make money off of? Licensing their name?
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