Thursday, January 5, 2012

A Not So Kodak Moment


Antonio M. Perez is the CEO of Kodak and a member of the current regime’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. This seems like an obscene oxymoron given the fact that the 131-year-old company is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection—something that The Wall Street Journal describes in its piece today as “a move that would cap a stunning comedown for a company that once ranked among America’s corporate titans.”

Kodak has lost money each year but one since Mr. Perez, who previously headed the printer business at Hewlett-Packard Co., took over in 2005. The company's problems came to a head in 2011, as Mr. Perez's strategy of using patent lawsuits and licensing deals to raise cash ran dry.

Kodak shares closed Wednesday at 47 cents, down 28% after The Wall Street Journal reported the company was preparing a Chapter 11 filing.

Via a thread at Memeorandum.

UPDATE:  1001 Noisy Cameras posits this interesting speculation:  “GE has shown an interest in digital cameras as they recently launched their own brand of entry-level to mid-level fixed lens digital cameras. Since GE is interested in this segment, and since they already have a number of well-known brands under the GE umbrella, it would make sense for them to buy Kodak—in terms of branding.”
[SNIP]
“Plus, it would give GE a lot of good PR among consumers—especially after last year's revelation that even unpaid bloggers paid more in taxes than GE :)”
Just a reminder, folks, Jeffrey Immelt is the chair for the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and CEO of GE.

2 comments:

  1. It doesn't sound good. I do believed that Kodak company is the root of the growing digital cameras world now. In fact their cheapest dslr cameras are still available in the market.

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