This is the kind of news we knew it would come 🙁
Kodak filed Chapter 11 for bankruptcy and this means that they will now try to restructure the company. You may have noticed that Kodak is suing Apple, Samsung, Fuji (and some other companies) because of patent infringement. They are trying to find some money here and there.
This is really not good news for people like me that uses Kodak film for their work (I own the ). Really a bad day for the photography history!
Here is the press release:
January 19, 2012 12:22 AM Eastern Time
Eastman Kodak Company and Its U.S. Subsidiaries Commence Voluntary Chapter 11 Business Reorganization
Flow of Goods and Services to Customers to Continue Globally in Ordinary Course
Non-U.S. Subsidiaries Are Not Included in U.S. Filing and Are Not Subject to Court Supervision
Company Secures $950 million in Debtor-in-Possession Financing in U.S.
Kodak’s Reorganization to Facilitate Emergence as Profitable and Sustainable Enterprise
ROCHESTER, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Eastman Kodak Company (“Kodak” or the “Company”) announced today that it and its U.S. subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for chapter 11 business reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
“Our goal is to maximize value for stakeholders, including our employees, retirees, creditors, and pension trustees. We are also committed to working with our valued customers.”
The business reorganization is intended to bolster liquidity in the U.S. and abroad, monetize non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable the Company to focus on its most valuable business lines. The Company has made pioneering investments in digital and materials deposition technologies in recent years, generating approximately 75% of its revenue from digital businesses in 2011.
Kodak has obtained a fully-committed, $950 million debtor-in-possession credit facility with an 18-month maturity from Citigroup to enhance liquidity and working capital. The credit facility is subject to Court approval and other conditions precedent. The Company believes that it has sufficient liquidity to operate its business during chapter 11, and to continue the flow of goods and services to its customers in the ordinary course.
Kodak expects to pay employee wages and benefits and continue customer programs. Subsidiaries outside of the U.S. are not subject to proceedings and will honor all obligations to suppliers, whenever incurred. Kodak and its U.S. subsidiaries will honor all post-petition obligations to suppliers in the ordinary course.
“Kodak is taking a significant step toward enabling our enterprise to complete its transformation,” said Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “At the same time as we have created our digital business, we have also already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing our workforce by 47,000 since 2003. Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetizing non-core IP assets. We look forward to working with our stakeholders to emerge a lean, world-class, digital imaging and materials science company.”
“After considering the advantages of chapter 11 at this time, the Board of Directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe that this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak,” Mr. Perez continued. “Our goal is to maximize value for stakeholders, including our employees, retirees, creditors, and pension trustees. We are also committed to working with our valued customers.
“Chapter 11 gives us the best opportunities to maximize the value in two critical parts of our technology portfolio: our digital capture patents, which are essential for a wide range of mobile and other consumer electronic devices that capture digital images and have generated over $3 billion of licensing revenues since 2003; and our breakthrough printing and deposition technologies, which give Kodak a competitive advantage in our growing digital businesses.”
Mr. Perez concluded, “The Board of Directors, the senior management team and I would like to underscore our appreciation for the hard work and loyalty of our employees. Kodak exemplifies a culture of collaboration and innovation. Our employees embody that culture and are essential to our future success.”
Kodak has taken this step after preliminary discussions with key constituencies and intends to work toward a consensual reorganization in the best interests of its stakeholders. Kodak expects to complete its U.S.-based restructuring during 2013.
The Company and its Board of Directors are being advised by Lazard, FTI Consulting Inc. and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. In addition, Dominic DiNapoli, Vice Chairman of FTI Consulting, will serve as Chief Restructuring Officer to support the management team as to restructuring matters during the chapter 11 case.
More information about Kodak’s Chapter 11 filing is available on the Internet at www.kodaktransforms.com. Information for suppliers and vendors is available at (800) 544-7009 or (585) 724-6100.
Kodak will be filing monthly operating reports with the Bankruptcy Court and also plans to post these monthly operating reports on the Investor Relations section of Kodak.com. The Company will continue to file quarterly and annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which will also be available in the Investor Relations section of Kodak.com.
21 Responses
“This is really not good news, not only for Leica that uses Kodak sensors for their Leica M9 camera, not only for the medium format camera world (…)”
Kodak sold their Image Sensor Solutions division to the private equity fund Platinum Equity on 7 November 2011. It is now a company controlled by Platinum Equity and named Truesense Imaging.
http://www.platinumequity.com/Truesense-Imaging
Truesense Imaging are now those who supply sensors to Leica and medium format camera makers. They do not have anything to do with Kodak any more.
Corrected the post! thx!
Mistral75 beat me to it. I was also worried about this because I’m strongly considering a Pentax 645D.
Does that mean it’s about time I should stock up some Tri-X 400 in my fridge? 🙁
I do not think you have to worry. Ilford is still around.
kodak is a chemical company who violated the environment for decades.. good when it is gone.
Environmental record
Kodak has been widely criticized by environmentalists and researchers as one of the worst polluters in the United States. According to scorecard.org, a web site which collects information on corporate pollution, Kodak is the worst polluter in New York state, releasing 4,433,749 pounds (2,011,115 kg) of chemicals into the air and water supply.[71]
The Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, which compiled the Toxic 100, ranked Kodak the seventh largest polluter in the United States in 2002.[72] In 2004, the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition’s (CEC) of New York awarded Kodak one of its “Dirty Dozen” awards to highlight its consistently high rates of pollution.[73]
+1
+1
Film processing overall is such a resource intense and wasteful business, that we are only sane to move away from it.
The film must go on.
I’m hoping the Chapter 11 filing will allow them to become smarter in how they run their business. They need to greatly reduce their workforce so they stop bleeding cash, and they need to figure out their business model. I’m sure there are companies out there who wouldn’t mind taking over the film manufacturing portion of Kodak because film will remain a niche sector of the photography market for some time to come.
Chapter 11 doesn’t necessarily mean Kodak goes out of business, just that they get protection from creditors while they re-structure their business. Many companies emerge from Chapter 11 protection and become successful business again.
will not happen… kodak is done and gone.
they just need some time to rob the corpse.
Uh….they already sold their gelatin and sensor manufacturing divisions…
Time to release a quality and affordable digital medium format camera.
well as mentioned a few times they just sold that business….
Not to worry. Illford declared bankruptcy several years ago and you can still buy Illford film. Some smart company will buy Kodak’s film division and make a good profit selling film. The Consumer films may disappear, but BW400CN, Portra, Ektar and the B&W films should be available for a long time.
And I’d expect that their motion picture film will be in demand for a few more years, Hollywood hasn’t gone completely digital yet.
Pretty much all the big studios are almost 100% digital. The only ones that are still film are the decade long projects that have been stopped and started.
Let this be a lesson to corporate America that if you are not willing to cannibalize your own products, someone else will.
Kodak management was way too wrapped up in quarterly performance that they ran their business advantage into the ground 3 months at a time.
Imagine being the largest name in your industry, and actually inventing the next generation technology to spring it into long term sustainability, yet fail to capitalize on it because you are afraid of interrupting your legacy products.