State of Kodak in 2019

1kgcoffee

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This thread is for speculation of what could happen in the next year and the business of kodak going forward.

Kodak managed to reintroduce two new films in 2018. But their financial situation is quite poor.

It is public information that Kodak needs a huge sum of cash in January 2019 for stock buyback. They do not have this money or any means of getting it.

Will Kodak enter bankruptcy protection in 2019. How will it be restructured and how will this affect film production and prices? Should we be stocking up on Kodak film in the next 12 months?
 

Bill Burk

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I fully expect Kodak will discover a technology that saves the planet.
 

MattKing

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fatso said:
I hope they go under.
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Why would you want to lose access to all their product?
And why would you want their employees to lose their jobs?
And why would you want their retirees to lose the currently still being funded benefits?
 

Roger Wade

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fatso said:
I hope they go under.
Click to expand...

Why I wonder? This is, after all, an American icon responsible for some milestones in cameras, films, technology and innovation. You don't have to like them but it would be a loss if they went.
 

MattKing

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Roger Wade said:
Why I wonder? This is, after all, an American icon responsible for some milestones in cameras, films, technology and innovation. You don't have to like them but it would be a loss if they went.
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Not just American - a worldwide icon.
 

mshchem

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Jeff Bezos will buy Kodak and bring back Ektalure, Azo, and Ektachrome in sheets and 120.

Kodak will survive, it has to survive.
 

mshchem

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Back to the original question. Kodak share price Is up over 15% past 12 months. Fidelity has a consensus rating of mildly bullish 7.1 on a 0 to 10 scale. Blackstone Group owns 21% of the company ,so they see value. Blackstone is managing close to half a trillion dollars. Kodak's market cap is meager, under 250 million. The debt thing is hard to understand. I can't understand how all the massive amounts of corporate debt is handled. I suspect, as long as you make interest payments, on junk bonds that pay 3 times what a 10 year treasury note pays, there are insurance and annuities standing in line to loan money.
 

railwayman3

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fatso said:
Defective TMax 100 roll film. One month of shooting in Nepal. Another photographing an abandoned ship that has since been destroyed.


Lost images for ever.


F Kodak.
Click to expand...

For once-in-a-lifetime shoots, surely it would have been sensible to test, beforehand, the film and the batch of film which you were intending to use ? Just saying......
 

jim10219

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If Kodak decides to get out of the film market, they'll sell it to another company who will pick up where they left off. They manufacture that stuff deep underground using specialized equipment that isn't good for much else. Between hipsters and Hollywood, there's money to be made there so long as other parts of your business aren't dragging you down. And film is so expensive to get into, there isn't really the threat of it becoming too competitive of a market. The biggest concern shouldn't be bankruptcy, but rather a long, slow death where Kodak continuously cuts film production until the machines get so little use that they break down and become too expensive to repair. Then it might be hard to find a buyer.
 
  • AgX
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Roger Wade

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railwayman3 said:
????
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I believe he was suggesting that your idea was unrealistic.

I, as most film photographers, have lost photos and even complete rolls over the years. It happens. I once lost an entire roll as my old Olympus did not correctly wind on the film so all was lost. I didn't blame it on Olympus however. Was perhaps me or just bad luck.
 

faberryman

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mshchem said:
Back to the original question. Kodak share price Is up over 15% past 12 months.
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It is $3.94/share today, but has been as low as $2.30/share in the past 30 days. 15% of nothing is nothing. In 2014 it was over $30/share and has steadily gone to hell in a handbasket. I hope the film division survives as do we all. As for the other 90% of the company, who cares? They are going to have to sell off a significant portion of it to pay the $400M due to preferred shareholders in 2019. Another bankruptcy looms. It's just a fact.
 
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summicron1

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Mr. FATSO seems to have had an unfortunate experience, and we can all be sorry, but without knowing better what the defect was, or why, I think it is best to just let him be. Sorry that happened and so on. Photography teaches us acceptance.

Two questions for the OP: Why is a stock buy-back needed? Although if the price is that low, now's certainly the time to do it. A lot of companies are taking their tax cut money that was supposed to be used for higher wages, corporate expansion and more jobs and doing the same thing. Being a civilian, I don't know why expect to possibly pump the price for the executives' stock options so they can buy cheap at the option price and sell.

And I was under the impression that Kodak's film division is owned by a British retirement fund and was actually doing pretty well...so would that not be separate from any financial issues that the Kodak corporation itself is having?
 

removed account4

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not sure what will happen with kodak this year,
hope it is good ..

fatso said:
Defective TMax 100 roll film. One month of shooting in Nepal. Another photographing an abandoned ship that has since been destroyed.


Lost images for ever.


F Kodak.
Click to expand...

Vincent Peri said:
What was the defect?
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probably USER ERROR
kodak didn't have any defective tmx100 film it was all iso 400 film that had problems.

===
oh well
==
 

faberryman

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summicron1 said:
And I was under the impression that Kodak's film division is owned by a British retirement fund and was actually doing pretty well...so would that not be separate from any financial issues that the Kodak corporation itself is having?
Click to expand...
Kodak (US) makes the film; Kodak Alaris (UK) markets it. If Kodak (US) goes under, there is nobody to make the film for Kodak Alaris (US) to market.
 

removed account4

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trendland

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So as with all kind of products concerning conventional photography one first rule should be better in all minds :

These products ( films, developement, acessoires, papers,a.s.o.) are not avaible for sure the next 10 years. Some stuff may survive the next decade, some stuff will not survive the next 5 years.
But for 100% sure the pricing will not come cheaper. And that parts of stuff wich will be avaible for a longer while (bw films are a very good speculation - that they will be avaible for longer ) will increase much in the future.

So Kodak products are still avaible - there is no law that you will see this situation for ever - but there is a law that pricing will increase.

So what is to do now - to calculate a worst case - and this would mean that in the end of 2019 some Kodak films will cost 50% MORE IN COMPARISON TO NOW !

with regards
 
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