Kodak gets loan; Stock Triples in Value!

[Ian Grant]

Isn't or wasn't the CEO of Kodak one of Trump's controversial economic advisers ?

Ian

 

[MattKing]

Wait, there is more!
It is up 1000%
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/bu...cent-after-trump-announces-deal-help-n1235196
I wonder who might have had stock options?

 

[devb]

Lol, they are just doing this out in the open now. I'd be surprised if Kodak actually manages to survive this massive looting expedition.

 

[markjwyatt]

Lol, they are just doing this out in the open now. I'd be surprised if Kodak actually manages to survive this massive looting expedition.

Looting? They are not being looted. They have a specialty chemical business already, and it just got a huge injection of cash.

 

[MattKing]

Looting? They are not being looted. They have a specialty chemical business already, and it just got a huge injection of cash.

I think the reference to looting is a reference to the stock volatility, not the loan.

 

[markjwyatt]

I think the reference to looting is a reference to the stock volatility, not the loan.

I thought he was saying that Kodak was being looted, but clearly not that! The volatility and rise is amazing. I think it set a record on Wall Street for a day's rise! Great to get Kodak back in the news. May help to get the "film" discussion going again.

 

[Paul Howell]

Kodak doesn't own the film division, that's Kodak Alaris which was spun off as part of it's bankruptcy settlement. And if the wire stories are accurate Kodak is in talks with a Chinese holding company to sell off it remaining photography and imaging assets including it's color paper plant in Colorado. From the Washington Post seems that Kodak has had it toe in the water for some time:

"In recent years, Kodak has been making key starting materials for a few pharmaceutical companies upon request, Continenza said. Kodak plans to repurpose and expand some of its manufacturing lines to carry out the work, he said."

Kodak will not make drugs, only the ingredients used to makes the drugs.

 

[Paul Howell]

Should have mentioned that Kodak makes movie film and related film materials which is as I read is not part of the deal with Sino Holding.

 

[MattKing]

Kodak doesn't own the film division, that's Kodak Alaris which was spun off as part of it's bankruptcy settlement. And if the wire stories are accurate Kodak is in talks with a Chinese holding company to sell off it remaining photography and imaging assets including it's color paper plant in Colorado.

Should have mentioned that Kodak makes movie film and related film materials which is as I read is not part of the deal with Sino Holding.

Eastman Kodak still makes all the film, and its film manufacturing business isn't the one that is up for sale.
Eastman Kodak still markets the motion picture film, and that business is not up for sale.
Kodak Alaris is the entity that has the worldwide marketing rights for Kodak still film (which is actually manufactured by Eastman Kodak) as well as the worldwide manufacturing and marketing rights for Kodak Colour paper and Kodak photo chemistry. They subcontract the manufacture of Kodak Colour paper and Kodak photo chemistry. It is their marketing rights for colour paper and photo chemistry that are up for sale - nothing to do with Eastman Kodak.

 

[flavio81]

https://twitter.com/i/events/1288095379188101120


"Defense Production Act" "orange" "media"

Obviously this is for manufacturing again al lthe chemicals needed for Kodachrome K-14 development.

We should celebrate this in a new thread called "Bring back kodachrome"!! Yay!!

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Threads merged.

 

[Paul Howell]

Eastman Kodak still makes all the film, and its film manufacturing business isn't the one that is up for sale.
Eastman Kodak still markets the motion picture film, and that business is not up for sale.
Kodak Alaris is the entity that has the worldwide marketing rights for Kodak still film (which is actually manufactured by Eastman Kodak) as well as the worldwide manufacturing and marketing rights for Kodak Colour paper and Kodak photo chemistry. They subcontract the manufacture of Kodak Colour paper and Kodak photo chemistry. It is their marketing rights for colour paper and photo chemistry that are up for sale - nothing to do with Eastman Kodak.

Ok, I got confused, but doesnt Kodak Eastman still make color paper in Colorado, and that plant is on the table?

 

[cmacd123]

Ok, I got confused, but doesnt Kodak Eastman still make color paper in Colorado, and that plant is on the table?

Plant is Colorado is owned by "Carestream" which was Kodak's medical imaging (X-ray) business. it coats colour paper on contract basis for Kodak Alaris.

 

[markjwyatt]

Kodak was on FOX News. Pictures of Kodachrome etc. They really emphasized their photographic past (which is fair as that is what we all know Kodak for). FOX said, ...film, not there any more... Hopefully the conversation gets started.

 

[MattKing]

Plant is Colorado is owned by "Carestream" which was Kodak's medical imaging (X-ray) business. it coats colour paper on contract basis for Kodak Alaris.

Kodak Alaris did receive a partial interest in that plant as part of the bankruptcy settlement, although that interest was most likely a leasehold interest which may have now expired.

 

[removed account4]

can't wait to hear big yellow making a come back

 

[devb]

I love film as much as anyone but this has nothing to do with film production. I'm not a chemical engineer so I don't know how transferable Kodak's photochemical knowledge and infrastructure is to the medical field, but I'm going to guess not very, at least not easily. There are *hundreds* of companies more qualified to receive a stimulus loan for pharmaceutical production.

Here's some of the interesting press this whole thing is generating so far:

Kodak executive chairman addresses jump in trading activity before government deal was announced
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/29/kod...ity-before-government-deal-was-announced.html

Kodak Pivots to Drugs After Failing at Photography and Crypto
“We are puzzled by the Trump Administration’s decision,” analysts at SVB Leerink wrote in a research note. “In particular, we find it puzzling why generic pharmaceutical companies who have the capabilities and know-how for this have not yet been awarded such contracts.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...drugs-after-failing-at-photography-and-crypto

The Government’s Plan to Turn Kodak Into a Pharmaceutical Company Sure Seems Underdeveloped
https://www.cato.org/blog/governments-plan-turn-kodak-pharmaceutical-company-sure-seems-underdeveloped?

If anyone can find an explanation for why this is a *good* thing for Kodak, I'd love to see it. What I'm not going to love is seeing what happens when the stock price crashes back down.

 

[markjwyatt]

I love film as much as anyone but this has nothing to do with film production. I'm not a chemical engineer so I don't know how transferable Kodak's photochemical knowledge and infrastructure is to the medical field, but I'm going to guess not very, at least not easily. There are *hundreds* of companies more qualified to receive a stimulus loan for pharmaceutical production.

...

Kodak does have an operating specialty chemicals company, which is not related only to photochemistry. Looks like their is some photochemistry and dyes, but also polymers and other compounds.

https://www.kodak.com/en/advanced-materials/page/specialty-chemicals

 

[Henning Serger]

I love film as much as anyone but this has nothing to do with film production. I'm not a chemical engineer so I don't know how transferable Kodak's photochemical knowledge and infrastructure is to the medical field, but I'm going to guess not very, at least not easily.

There are some technological crossovers. Fujifilm has used parts of its (photo)chemical knowledge very successfully in the past to expand its product programe to healthcare and cosmetic products.
Harman technology / Ilford Photo has been active in a similar direction, too. As well as InovisCoat. But both to a much, much lesser extent than Fujifilm (and not so successful).

Kodak's core business and its strength has always been chemistry related products. Most of their problems in the past came from other, non-chemistry business units. So a kind of "re-focussing" on its "roots" and real strengths looks like a reasonable step in the right direction at first sight. But we simply don't have enough info and details about that deal so far to make a really robust and solid assessment.
We have to wait and see.

Best regards,
Henning

 

[Cholentpot]

I love film as much as anyone but this has nothing to do with film production. I'm not a chemical engineer so I don't know how transferable Kodak's photochemical knowledge and infrastructure is to the medical field, but I'm going to guess not very, at least not easily. There are *hundreds* of companies more qualified to receive a stimulus loan for pharmaceutical production.

Here's some of the interesting press this whole thing is generating so far:

Kodak executive chairman addresses jump in trading activity before government deal was announced
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/29/kod...ity-before-government-deal-was-announced.html

Kodak Pivots to Drugs After Failing at Photography and Crypto
“We are puzzled by the Trump Administration’s decision,” analysts at SVB Leerink wrote in a research note. “In particular, we find it puzzling why generic pharmaceutical companies who have the capabilities and know-how for this have not yet been awarded such contracts.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...drugs-after-failing-at-photography-and-crypto

The Government’s Plan to Turn Kodak Into a Pharmaceutical Company Sure Seems Underdeveloped
https://www.cato.org/blog/governments-plan-turn-kodak-pharmaceutical-company-sure-seems-underdeveloped?

If anyone can find an explanation for why this is a *good* thing for Kodak, I'd love to see it. What I'm not going to love is seeing what happens when the stock price crashes back down.

“In particular, we find it puzzling why generic pharmaceutical companies who have the capabilities and know-how for this have not yet been awarded such contracts.”

Because they've outsourced overseas maybe? Or rescuing a known American brand is worth big PR points?

 

[wyofilm]

Revamping Kodak into pharmaceutical work isn't crazy. I don't have detailed knowledge of Kodak industrial synthesis facilities, but from their website it looks like they are active in contract work over a useful scale (kilos to tons), all of which requires correct infrastructure and know-how. Many pharmaceutical companies don't have these capabilities, in part, because they do a lot of R&D with the ultimate goal of producing marketable drugs (the real pay-off for them). Rochester itself is a worthwhile location: strong manufacturing infrastructure, top flight universities, and a reasonable cost of living.

From my previous life as a professor of biochemistry with a chemistry background, I can tell that offshore chemical outsourcing is extensive at all levels in the pharmaceutical industry. This even happens at the academic level. I had some colleagues that even operated two academic research labs, one in the US and one in China. Other colleagues set up Chinese 'collaborations' as mechanism to outsource much of their academic research. This wasn't the majority of labs, but not unheard of.

One of our lessons from Covid-19, is that there are clear strategic reasons to not offshore critical industries, pharmaceuticals being one of them. I'm not even sure what the money is earmarked for. Perhaps it is required to transition Kodak to GMP (good manufacturing practices) production, a requirement for pharmaceutical production.

I hope this isn't a pork project, but on the face of it, I don't see anything crazy about it.

 

[Cholentpot]

Revamping Kodak into pharmaceutical work isn't crazy. I don't have detailed knowledge of Kodak industrial synthesis facilities, but from their website it looks like they are active in contract work over a useful scale (kilos to tons), all of which requires correct infrastructure and know-how. Many pharmaceutical companies don't have these capabilities, in part, because they do a lot of R&D with the ultimate goal of producing marketable drugs (the real pay-off for them). Rochester itself is a worthwhile location: strong manufacturing infrastructure, top flight universities, and a reasonable cost of living.

From my previous life as a professor of biochemistry with a chemistry background, I can tell that offshore chemical outsourcing is extensive at all levels in the pharmaceutical industry. This even happens at the academic level. I had some colleagues that even operated two academic research labs, one in the US and one in China. Other colleagues set up Chinese 'collaborations' as mechanism to outsource much of their academic research. This wasn't the majority of labs, but not unheard of.

One of our lessons from Covid-19, is that there are clear strategic reasons to not offshore critical industries, pharmaceuticals being one of them. I'm not even sure what the money is earmarked for. Perhaps it is required to transition Kodak to GMP (good manufacturing practices) production, a requirement for pharmaceutical production.

I hope this isn't a pork project, but on the face of it, I don't see anything crazy about it.

Bingo.

C-19 has really driven home the idea that we need manufacturing of strategic goods stateside. It reminded us of how big the world can be.

 

[NB23]

Does this means Plus-X is coming back?

lol

 

[Cholentpot]

Does this means Plus-X is coming back?

lol

I have three rolls left of Plus-X...

 

[George Mann]

Does this means Plus-X is coming back?

lol

Along with Pan-X and Kodachrome?