Kodak warns it may not stay afloat much longer as shares plunge

Shares in Eastman Kodak plunged 25% Tuesday after the flailing photography giant warned it may be forced to shut down after 133 years if it doesn’t secure a financial lifeline.

In an earnings report on Monday, Kodak said it doesn’t have “committed financing or available liquidity” to pay about $500 million in upcoming debt obligations. 

“These conditions raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the company said in a filing.

It’s hoping to get a boost of cash by halting payments toward its retirement pension plan and aims to have “a clear understanding” by this week of how it will satisfy its debt obligations.

Kodak added that it doesn’t expect tariffs to have “material impacts” on its business because it manufactures many of its own products in the US, including cameras, inks and film.

“In the second quarter, Kodak continued to make progress against our long-term plan despite the challenges of an uncertain business environment,” Kodak CEO Jim Continenza said in a statement.

Kodak – a household name in the US and overseas – jumpstarted a new era in photography in 1975 when it released the first digital camera.

But it failed to capitalize on emerging photo technologies, filing for bankruptcy in 2012 with 100,000 creditors and debts totaling $6.75 billion.

The company was forced to pivot to industrial printing and selling branded products, like a Barbie-themed mini photo printer.

In 2020, it was offered a lifeboat in the form of a $765 million government loan to produce domestic drug ingredients to reduce US reliance on foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers.

At the time, its stock price jumped so fast that it tripped 20 circuit breakers throughout the trading session. 

The Eastman Kodak Company got its start in 1879, when George Eastman obtained his first patent for a plate-coating machine, which is used in printing and film photography. 

In 1888, Eastman sold the first Kodak camera for $25 – a breakthrough instrument that made photography more accessible to the masses.

Previously, the hobby had required technical skill and lots of equipment, but now the click of a camera was enough – leading Eastman to coin the slogan: “You push the button, we do the rest.”

By the 1970s, Kodak was responsible for 90% of film and 85% of camera sales in the US, according to The Economist. 

Eastman claimed he pulled the name out of thin air.

“I devised the name myself. The letter ‘K’ had been a favorite with me – it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter,” the entrepreneur said.