Kodak

Well, what is there to say. A very, very say day for analogue photography yesterday as Kodak announces that it is filing for Bankruptcy. As the digital developments encompass our industry it seems many can't keep up and it is with great sadness that Kodak is one of those. Personally for me, it is a favourite film of mine, and I will find it very difficult not being able to purchase in the future, lets hope another company can take on its debt and it shall be saved!

Here is an extract for the Guardian article on the news, "To all intents and purposes it is the end of the "Kodak moment". More than 130 years after a "not especially gifted" high school dropout, George Eastman, founded the camera company that dominated photography for most of the 20th century, Kodak Eastman filed for bankruptcy protection in the US on Thursday.

The company which once sold 90% of the film used in the US and made a type of film – Kodachrome – so beloved by amateur and professional photographers that Paul Simon wrote a hit song about it, finally succumbed to the digital revolution which left its products obsolete after years of ferocious competition from more light-footed rivals in the Far East.

The company, whose little yellow boxes could once be found throughout the world, had tried to reinvent itself as a manufacturer of printers to capitalise on its reputation as the best for film printing. But despite the closure of 13 factories, 130 processing labs and 47,000 job losses, the business had little choice but to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The filing lists its assets as worth $5.1bn – but its debts stand at $6.8bn.

"The board of directors and the senior management team unanimously believe this is the right thing to do for the future of Kodak," said chief executive Antonio Perez. He told the company's 19,000 employees, who face further cost structure "transformation", that they are "essential to our future".

Read more of the article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/19/kodak-bankruptcy-protection?intcmp=239