Eastman Kodak Co. emerged from bankruptcy court Tuesday after a judge cleared the company to begin a new chapter. Judge Allan L. Gropper of the bankruptcy court confirmed a restructuring plan to start selling large-scale printers and services to business clients to help the company recover from its losses. The company had shrunk in size and has a thousand of Kodak retirees under its wing.
Net sales from operations at Kodak graphics, entertainment and commercial films division have fallen to USD 371 million in the quarter that ended June 30 from USD 446 million last year. Sales at its digital printing and enterprise division have also dropped from USD 223 million last year to USD 198 million.The company said that emerging businesses from the bankruptcy protection law are expected to post USD 2.5 billion in revenue this year and USD 505 million in gross profit.
Creditors of Kodak agreed to buy 85% of the reorganized company's shares through a rights offering that brought in more than USD 400 million. Kodak's 15,000 U.K. pensioners will own the personalized imaging business, including camera film as well as its document imaging business.
The bulk of its stock will be in the hands of its creditors. Its U.K. retirees will own the film unit, while Kodak's U.S. retirees will be given a chance to buy some of its stocks. Its competitors for the new focus of the business will be giant companies like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Canon for inkjet printers. Kodak is also currently looking into the packaging business to go against DuPont. Kodak will also be keeping its motion picture film line of the company.
Eastman Kodak Company is an American multinational company dealing with imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services. Based in New York, Eastman Kodak was founded in 1892 by George Eastman and Henry A. Strong. Eastman put the first trouble-free camera into the hands of a world of consumers in 1888. Eastman made a complicated process easy to use and accessible to everyone.
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