ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Eastman Kodak Co. said Wednesday that it has received court approval to borrow up to $844 million to finance the rest of its restructuring. The company wants to emerge from bankruptcy protection in the middle of the year.
The financing agreement, along with the recently approved sale and licensing of its digital imaging patents, sets the stage for Kodak to emerge as a "profitable and sustainable company," said CEO Antonio Perez.
The financing deal was contingent on the completion of the sale of the digital imaging patents for at least $500 million. The court overseeing Kodak's case recently approved the sale of the patents for $527 million and the deal is expected to close in February.
Founded in 1880, Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2012 after a long struggle to stay relevant. It was first hit by competition from Japanese companies, then it couldn't keep up with the shift from film to digital photography over the past decade.
Since its filing, Kodak has sold or shut down several divisions, including the manufacturing of digital cameras. The company plans to focus on commercial and packaging printing. It sees home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, software and packaging as the core of its new business.
Hey Harley, I saw that too. Kind of hard to figure out anymore.
There seems to be still a lot of their LF film going out the door to date. I know many in the UK found the Kodak negative stuff, especially the Porta, as a replacement for Fuji's transparency items after the drop of Velvia 50 & Astia.
We can only hope they will retain at least what they are turning out to date.
Posted by Mark Stahlke on January 24, 2013 at 10:30 PM
Thanks for the update Paul. Like Harley, I'm concerned about the future of Kodak's film division. It saddened me to see Kodak drop their E6 films just as I was growing fond of E100VS and E100G. True to form, Fuji followed Kodak and dramatically reduced their transparency film offerings. I've heard good things about Kodak's color negative films but I haven't tried them.
For b&w film, I chose Ilford because of Kodak's uncertain future. Ilford seems more committed to film photography.
Mark, I understand and can only wonder where we will be with products going forward. I want to stick with transparencies as long as I can, but would be willing to at least try some negative stuff if all else fails.
I also think your B&W decision is right on the mark. UK folks seem to use Ilford as their first choice in B&W too.
Discussion
4 repliesThe financing agreement, along with the recently approved sale and licensing of its digital imaging patents, sets the stage for Kodak to emerge as a "profitable and sustainable company," said CEO Antonio Perez.
The financing deal was contingent on the completion of the sale of the digital imaging patents for at least $500 million. The court overseeing Kodak's case recently approved the sale of the patents for $527 million and the deal is expected to close in February.
Founded in 1880, Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2012 after a long struggle to stay relevant. It was first hit by competition from Japanese companies, then it couldn't keep up with the shift from film to digital photography over the past decade.
Since its filing, Kodak has sold or shut down several divisions, including the manufacturing of digital cameras. The company plans to focus on commercial and packaging printing. It sees home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, software and packaging as the core of its new business.
There seems to be still a lot of their LF film going out the door to date. I know many in the UK found the Kodak negative stuff, especially the Porta, as a replacement for Fuji's transparency items after the drop of Velvia 50 & Astia.
We can only hope they will retain at least what they are turning out to date.
For b&w film, I chose Ilford because of Kodak's uncertain future. Ilford seems more committed to film photography.
I also think your B&W decision is right on the mark. UK folks seem to use Ilford as their first choice in B&W too.