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Dayton
Business Journal...
Report:
Kodak to focus on printing after bankruptcy
by DBJ
Staff
Sunday,
January 8, 2012
Photo:
Eastman Kodak
If Eastman
Kodak Co. carries through with a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the
coming weeks
as media reports suggest, it could mark the end of a rich, 131-year
history as
the king of all-things related to photos and cameras, according to a
report by
MarketWatch.com.
In the
report, Rafferty Capital Markets Analyst Mark Kaufman says the company
likely
will completely exit the consumer photo and camera business.
“Forget
about it. It’s not making money now,” Kaufman, told MarketWatch.com.
Instead,
the plan would be for Kodak (NYSE:EK) to sell off all of its photo
business,
unload an extremely profitable chunk of its massive patent library and
focus
almost exclusively on digital printing as a business-to-business
company.
“It’s not a
consumer business, its business-to-business. That’s what you’re going
to have,”
Kaufman said in the report.
That would
be good news for the Dayton operations, where Kodak has 570 employees
at a
facility that makes inkjet printers, which are reportedly competing
well in the
marketplace against such rivals as Hewlett-Packard Co
. and Canon. With the company already
having discussed plans for possible growth in Dayton through state and
local
incentives, an emphasis on the printing side of the business would make
those
plans more likely to happen. That could lead to more jobs in Dayton and
a
stronger business for Kodak going forward.
The report
indicates that any bankruptcy filing would give the company some time
to shift
its business, selling off unprofitable units and valuable patents, and
position
itself to emerge as a much smaller, yet profitable company. It also
could get a
boost from any settlement payoff over its patent infringement lawsuit
against
Apple Inc. and
Research in Motion Ltd.
The patent
in the suit involves technology for previewing digital images on
Apple’s
(NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhones and RIM’s (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerrys. There was a
mixed
decision last year that failed to resolve the claims. A favorable
ruling for
Kodak could have been worth as much as $1 billion, the company said at
the
time.
If the
reports of how Kodak would look after emerging from bankruptcy are
correct, the
company may very well boost its operations in Dayton. In fact, the
company
already has expressed interest in growing locally.
In late
September, the state of Ohio approved a tax credit package worth $2.9
million
over 10 years to entice Kodak to expand in the Dayton region. In
addition, the
city of Kettering recently committed a $435,000 grant to the company.
State
officials said if the company decides to expand in Kettering, it would
invest
at least $7.5 million in new manufacturing machinery as well as
research and
development equipment to help position the Kettering facility for
future
growth.
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and other articles at Dayton Business Journal
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