Kodak on the verge of death

The photography pioneer nears bankruptcy.

Eastman Kodak, which released the world's first consumer camera in 1888, stands as close to bankruptcy as possible, and now has a market value of just $230 million.

In 1997, the company had a market value of $31 billion, before the revolution of digital photography began. The company has not had a profit since early 2007 and its stock market shares now trade for under $1.

The most valuable part of the company is now its digital imaging patents, which have a value of $2 billion.

While Kodak says it has no intention of filing for bankruptcy, the stock has fallen to a price not seen since the 1970s as investors assume the worse.

Potential buyers of the $2 billion patent portfolio have been scared away as they could be sued by Kodak creditors if the company goes bankrupt. Most experts believe Kodak should just go bankrupt and then sell the patents to pay off creditors.

(Pic via Reuters)

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 1 Oct 2011 22:41

DXR88

Its a shame that yet another American legacy will Die.

2.10.2011 00:52 #1

Hyasuma

Originally posted by DXR88: Its a shame that yet another American legacy will Die. sigh....

2.10.2011 01:17 #2

DVDBack23

Originally posted by DXR88: Its a shame that yet another American legacy will Die. If you cannot innovate and think that lawsuits against innovators will save your company, then you deserve to go bankrupt. RIM and a number of other companies (American, international, doesnt matter) are going the same way.

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2.10.2011 01:28 #3

KillerBug

Originally posted by DVDBack23: Originally posted by DXR88: Its a shame that yet another American legacy will Die. If you cannot innovate and think that lawsuits against innovators will save your company, then you deserve to go bankrupt. RIM and a number of other companies (American, international, doesnt matter) are going the same way. Kodak has done a lot of innovation, and they have a very nice lineup. If anything, I think their biggest mistake was to make such great products...they don't get many repeat customers because their cameras just last and last and last, and the image quality is good enough that even their old 1.3MP cameras still make better pictures than a new 8MP camera phones.

2.10.2011 01:55 #4

DXR88

Originally posted by DVDBack23: Originally posted by DXR88: Its a shame that yet another American legacy will Die. If you cannot innovate and think that lawsuits against innovators will save your company, then you deserve to go bankrupt. RIM and a number of other companies (American, international, doesn't matter) are going the same way. Mom&Pops would be proud to hear that, they thought honesty and integrity was the best policy as well....i guess that's why they went extinct. didn't sue enough investors didn't corner the market with Technological progress baring patents,didn't feed off the people.

you can keep telling yourself that they all deserve to go under. but there just following the New BIG book of Business 101.

2.10.2011 02:12 #5

DVDBack23

Originally posted by KillerBug: Originally posted by DVDBack23: Originally posted by DXR88: Its a shame that yet another American legacy will Die. If you cannot innovate and think that lawsuits against innovators will save your company, then you deserve to go bankrupt. RIM and a number of other companies (American, international, doesnt matter) are going the same way. Kodak has done a lot of innovation, and they have a very nice lineup. If anything, I think their biggest mistake was to make such great products...they don't get many repeat customers because their cameras just last and last and last, and the image quality is good enough that even their old 1.3MP cameras still make better pictures than a new 8MP camera phones. This is just not true.

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2.10.2011 02:13 #6

DVDBack23

Originally posted by DXR88: Mom&Pops would be proud to hear that, they thought honesty and integrity was the best policy as well....i guess that's why they went extinct. didn't sue enough investors didn't corner the market with Technological progress baring patents,didn't feed off the people.

you can keep telling yourself that they all deserve to go under. but there just following the New BIG book of Business 101. Clearly you misread. Kodak didn't innovate AND they sued everyone who was trying to innovate. Good riddance to them. They were great when cameras needed film, not anymore.

2.10.2011 02:50 #7

KSib

Well, they were bragging about low ink cost for their printers, but if they do go under I wonder who's gonna pick up that slack...? HP? Canon?

2.10.2011 07:00 #8

KillerBug

Originally posted by DVDBack23: Originally posted by KillerBug: Originally posted by DVDBack23: Originally posted by DXR88: Its a shame that yet another American legacy will Die. If you cannot innovate and think that lawsuits against innovators will save your company, then you deserve to go bankrupt. RIM and a number of other companies (American, international, doesnt matter) are going the same way. Kodak has done a lot of innovation, and they have a very nice lineup. If anything, I think their biggest mistake was to make such great products...they don't get many repeat customers because their cameras just last and last and last, and the image quality is good enough that even their old 1.3MP cameras still make better pictures than a new 8MP camera phones. This is just not true. I know that the old 1.3MP Kodak we have at the office still takes better pictures than the Sensation 4G or the Droid Bionic, and it still works after years of abuse. The pictures are clean and crisp in spite of the fact that it isn't a DSLR...and the colors are spot-on...the only other non-DSLR I have seen this with is the 10MP kodak that I have here at the house.

Innovation isn't just inventing new things; if that were the case, then the only innovative digital camera would be that crummy old apple thing. Innovation can also mean bringing high-end features to affordable devices, and Kodak does that really well.

I'm just glad I have my 10MP kodak...if it is anything like that old 1.3MP, it should outlast the lithium ion battery many times over...and that is pretty good considering that Kodak uses quality cells in their batteries.

2.10.2011 07:04 #9

getanacct

I'd wish that someone like Apple would buy Kodak, because the reputation of Apple would help Kodak immensely, and allow them to survive for at least another 20 years or so.

3.10.2011 09:54 #10

DXR88

Originally posted by getanacct: I'd wish that someone like Apple would buy Kodak, because the reputation of Apple would help Kodak immensely, and allow them to survive for at least another 20 years or so. Hell no, id rather see Kodak die with the reputation of affordable long lasting products than live with the reputation of making overpriced garbage.

besides there patents they really have nothing worth anything anymore.

3.10.2011 15:28 #11

xboxdvl2

i have a kodak easy share cx 7300.its old been used a lot and still takes quality photos.the good thing about kodak is there camera's were at a reasonable price and reliable,also very easy to use.

R.I.P. mr 1990 ford falcon.got myself a 1993 toyota corolla seems to run good.computers still going good.

4.10.2011 03:05 #12

Memnock

It's funny I have a 4-5 year old 6MP Kodac digital that just broke this month. It took very good pictures considering the age. Still, I'm in no rush to replace it. My phone does good enough in most situations. I guess that's part of the reason Kodac is in trouble.

4.10.2011 08:59 #13

Bozobub

Kodak wasn't killed by lack of innovation, they were killed by Polaroid suing them and taking the self-developing "instant" camera market away completely. It's been downhill since then.

4.10.2011 09:01 #14

falcon74

Kodak did not help the cause by the demise of super8 film they just let it go never tried to make it more affordable for the consumer and the digital cinem has also killed Kodak and film labs a whole industry destroyed by greed!

7.10.2011 18:35 #15

pmshah

Originally posted by Bozobub: Kodak wasn't killed by lack of innovation, they were killed by Polaroid suing them and taking the self-developing "instant" camera market away completely. It's been downhill since then. Funny Polaroid sued Kodak about instant self developing photo technology but Fuji was not affected. Kodak made most of the chemicals used by Polaroid but got sued because of competitive fears.

Even today their technology in CCD sensors is unsurpassed by any other company in the world. Within a 4 pixel matrix they are the only ones to use a single green sensing pixel, along with a red and blue. All others have to use 2 green pixels. The 4th one thus freed is a clear while light sensor for reading the brightness better than any other extrapolation method.

8.10.2011 12:07 #16

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