Kodak Sells Gelatin Business

Mackinaw · Dec 22, 2011

I just saw this over on RFF. I imagine this can't be good:

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/22/4140829/kodak-agrees-to-sell-gelatin-business.html

Jim B.

Ken Nadvornick · Dec 22, 2011

Sadly, neither can this (from the article):

"...Kodak shares jumped 7 cents, or 11.8 percent, to 70 cents. The stock is down 88.3 percent in 2011."

Ken

wildbill · Dec 22, 2011

oh boy.

jordanstarr · Dec 22, 2011

I doubt that this one ingredient would have much impact on film production. I imagine the worst thing that could happen is an increase in price of film if they have to get gelatine from another manufacturer.

Moopheus · Dec 22, 2011

Geez, if their market cap gets any lower, we could take up a collection and buy them out.

EASmithV · Dec 22, 2011

Moopheus said:
Geez, if their market cap gets any lower, we could take up a collection and buy them out.

That's actually not a horrible idea.

Focus No. 9 · Dec 22, 2011

i kinda like the idea too. bottom fishing can be fun.

Aristophanes · Dec 22, 2011

Pass the Hat via PayPal.

amundenovskiy · Dec 22, 2011

They will still make film and paper? Or what? :S I was kind of vekaukt to find that kodak is doing kind of blah lately

M.A.Longmore · Dec 22, 2011

Moopheus said:
Geez, if their market cap gets any lower, we could take up a collection and buy them out.

.
Maybe It Can Be A KickStarter Project ?

Ron
.

John R. · Dec 22, 2011

Probably a reasonable move to keep their other interests healthier. Good for film business I believe. I'm sure they negotiated a great supplier contract with the sale.

removed account4 · Dec 23, 2011

John R. said:
Probably a reasonable move to keep their other interests healthier. Good for film business I believe. I'm sure they negotiated a great supplier contract with the sale.

yup now they sold the cow and get the milk for half price

Neanderman · Dec 23, 2011

We had to see this coming. First the silver business, now this.

I just hate to see a once great company like this whither down to nothing.

Ed

mrred · Dec 23, 2011

Moopheus said:
Geez, if their market cap gets any lower, we could take up a collection and buy them out.

The worst thing you could do is throw money at a problem that isn't money related. If it was, financing would be available to them. If you want to see yourself as an owner, just buy a share - it gets cheaper by the day.......

Diapositivo · Dec 23, 2011

If the gelatin plant has a size which is now much bigger than Kodak internal needs it makes sense to sell it and buy gelatin rather than produce more gelatin then needed and finding itself in the gelatin business, as if they hadn't distractions enough.

lxdude · Dec 23, 2011

Diapositivo said:
If the gelatin plant has a size which is now much bigger than Kodak internal needs it makes sense to sell it and buy gelatin rather than produce more gelatin then needed and finding itself in the gelatin business, as if they hadn't distractions enough.

They were in the gelatin business for a long, long time. Eastman Gelatine sold gelatin for many uses. It is a subsidiary company, with lots of outside business.
I think this is about raising cash. I think they figure they need that more than the profit stream, and it will be better to just buy what they need.

AndrewH · Dec 23, 2011

Kodak Sells off Gelatin business as part of restructuring (WSJ)

Kodak said it was selling off its Eastman Gelatine Corp. business to Rousselot, part of Vion Food Group for an undisclosed sum.

The Kodak subsidiary dates back to 1817 and makes gelatin for printing, imaging, food and pharmaceutical purposes. Kodak bought the company, at one time named The American Glue Company, in 1930 when its film business was thriving. As film sales started to wane, the company branched out more aggressively into other areas like food and pharmaceuticals.

The sale also includes a 575,000-square-foot production facility in Peabody, Mass., where the company makes gelatin made from cattle bones

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204464404577114961765054198.html#ixzz1hMg9mwL2

shutterclank · Dec 23, 2011

hmmm... is kodak still going to get a discount for making film emulsion? is kodak still going to make film?

michaelbsc · Dec 23, 2011

shutterclank said:
hmmm... is kodak still going to get a discount for making film emulsion? is kodak still going to make film?

Hasn't Perez been explicit that Kodak is a printer manufacturer ?

Ronald Moravec · Dec 23, 2011

Does Perez not do what the board directs him to do? Or is it a rubber stamp board. I believe the former, but could be wrong.

Restructuring? They re selling it off piece meal. It is sad to see an American icon go like this, die by a thousand cuts.

michaelbsc · Dec 23, 2011

Aristophanes said:
Pass the Hat via PayPal.

count me in.

jim appleyard · Dec 23, 2011

Ronald Moravec said:
It is sad to see an American icon go like this, die by a thousand cuts.

Yes, very sad, but maybe the new company will listen to its customers like Ilford does. Maybe this new company will bring back some films on a semi-annual basis and not expect to make x billion/hour...if I'm reading this correctly.

lajolla · Dec 23, 2011

The global food and global pharmaceutical industries' growing need for high-quality gelatin far, far exceeds that of all the global photo-industries combined. That being said, as long as there are multiple suppliers of high-quality pharmaceutical-grade gelatins, there will be photographic film and photographic paper manufacturers that will continue to survive using a fractional percentage of the total global gelatin output. This is really a non-story, except for paranoid wall street journal readers.

Plate Voltage · Dec 23, 2011

lajolla said:
The global food and global pharmaceutical industries' growing need for high-quality gelatin far, far exceeds that of all the global photo-industries combined. That being said, as long as there are multiple suppliers of high-quality pharmaceutical-grade gelatins, there will be photographic film and photographic paper manufacturers that will continue to survive using a fractional percentage of the total global gelatin output. This is really a non-story, except for paranoid wall street journal readers.

This is exactly why Kodak selling off their gelatine business is so hard to understand: Why isn't Kodak doing brisk business making and selling gelatine to make money? Selling off what should be a profitable line of business sounds like a suicide move.

Stephen Prunier · Dec 23, 2011

I live about 3 miles from the plant. They use to employ a lot of people. Now it's just a skeleton of itself

Kodak Sells Gelatin Business

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