Kodak doesn’t look a whole lot like it did when it filed for bankruptcy protection last year, but its executives and investors are hoping for a picture-perfect future.
Many of its products and services are gone, including the camera-making business that made it famous more than a century ago. Also gone are scores of workers, manufacturing facilities, supply contracts and millions of dollars in investments.
On Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper approved the company’s plan to emerge from court oversight, paving the way for it to recreate itself as a new, much smaller company focused on commercial and packaging printing.
Kodak said it hopes to emerge from bankruptcy protection as early as Sept. 3.
“They still have people with immense skill and who know how to win,” said Mark Zupan, dean of the business school at the University of Rochester, near Kodak’s headquarters. “But it’s also a team that has gone through hell for the last 10 to 20 years. It has been like constant water torture.”
Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Eastman Kodak Co. is credited with popularizing photography at the start of the 20th century and was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. It was first brought down by Japanese competition and then an inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology.
“Up until around 2005, Kodak was one of the most recognizable brands in the world, and that’s now gone,” said Robert Burley, a photography professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. “It’s only real brand recognition these days is as a failed company that was unable to make the transition from the 20th century to the 21st century. To some degree, they have become a poster child for a company that could not keep up with technology.”
Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection last year after struggling with increasing competition, continuing growth in digital photography and growing debt. Since its filing, Kodak has sold off many of its businesses and patents, while shutting down the camera manufacturing unit that first made it famous.
“Kodak is a different company than the one in the popular imagination and very different from the one that filed for bankruptcy,” Kodak attorney Andrew Dietderich told the court at the start of Tuesday’s hearing.
In making his ruling, Gropper noted that his approval of the plan will result in the loss of retirement and health care benefits for many former workers, while many of the company’s investors will recoup just pennies on the dollar.
“So at a time of admitted tragedy, let us take a moment to dwell on the future and hope that Kodak will be successful,” Gropper said.
Kodak Chairman and CEO Antonio Perez said that with the ruling, the company is now poised to become a leader in the commercial imaging industry, providing professional services such as commercial printing, packaging and film for motion pictures.
Zupan said the company also has been developing an alternative for a key composite used in the production of touch-screen display screens.
The connection with consumers is gone, though. “Kodak no longer will have any of the core businesses that once defined it,” Burley said.
Earlier this year, the company said it would sell its personalized and document-imaging businesses to its U.K. pension plan for $650 million as part of a deal that settles $2.8 billion in claims that the retirement fund had sought from the photography pioneer.
It also sold its document imaging assets, digital imaging patents and online photo service, while shutting down other divisions.
Last week, a majority of the company’s creditors voted to approve its plan to emerge. But some retirees, shareholders and other parties objected to it.
Although some shareholders argued that they should be entitled for something in exchange for their stock, Gropper said he ruled at a previous hearing that they weren’t. He noted that the company’s creditors will only receive 4 cents or 5 cents on the dollar for their investments and that they’re entitled to be paid before shareholders are. Generally, holders of common stock do not receive anything for their shares when a company emerges from Chapter 11.
The U.S. Trustee also filed an objection challenging the legality of hefty cash and stock bonuses that Kodak executives are expected to receive when the Rochester, N.Y., company exits from bankruptcy protection.
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AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this story.
“Red One” Tops Weekend Box Office With $34.1 Million
Moviegoers were not exactly feeling the Christmas spirit this weekend, or at least what "Red One" was offering. The big budget, star-driven action comedy with Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans sold $34.1 million in tickets in its first weekend in theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. It easily topped a box office populated mostly by holdovers.
For traditional studios, a $34.1 million debut against a $200 million+ production budget would be a clear indication of a flop. Some even peg the budget closer to $250 million. But "Red One" is an Amazon MGM Studios release and they have the luxury of playing the long game, accounting not only for global box office where Johnson tentpoles often overperform, but its life on Prime Video for years to come.
"Red One," in which Johnson plays Santa's bodyguard, was also originally built to go straight-to-streaming. There's a narrative that the theatrical earnings are not only just a bonus, but that it's an additive gesture towards struggling theaters looking for a consistent stream of new films. The first major studio holiday release since 2018, "Red One" opened on 4,032 screens, including IMAX and other large formats, on an otherwise quiet weekend for major releases.
Warner Bros. is handling the overseas release, where it has made an estimated $50 million in two weekends from 75 territories and 14,783 screens.
Still, it's certainly not a theatrical hit in North America. Even "Joker: Folie à Deux" made slightly more in its first weekend. "Red One," directed by Jake Kasdan and produced by Johnson's Seven Bucks, was roundly rejected by critics, with a dismal 33% Rotten Tomatoes score. Jake Coyle, in his review for The Associated Press, wrote that it "feels like an unwanted high-priced Christmas... Read More