Kodak Sells Gelatin Business

[Mackinaw]

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]

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]

oh boy.

 

[jordanstarr]

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]

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

 

[EASmithV]

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]

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

 

[Aristophanes]

Pass the Hat via PayPal.

 

[amundenovskiy]

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]

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.]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[michaelbsc]

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]

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]

Pass the Hat via PayPal.

count me in.

 

[jim appleyard]

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]

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]

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]

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