Kodak says it might have to cease operations

Summary

Facebook Tweet Email Link New York — Eastman Kodak, the 133-year-old photography company, is warning investors thats it might not survive much longer. In its earnings report Monday, the company warned that it doesn’t have “committed financing or available liquidity” to pay its roughly $500 million in upcoming debt obligations. “These conditions raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” Kodak said in a filing. Kodak aims to conjure up cash by ceasing payments for its retirement pension plan. It also said that it doesn’t expect tariffs to have “material impacts” on its business because it manufactures its many of its products, includings cameras, inks and film in the United States. “In the second quarter, Kodak continued to make progress against our long-term plan despite the challenges of an uncertain business environment,” said Kodak CEO Jim Continenza in the earnings release. In a statement to CNN Tuesday, a Kodak spokesperson said that it’s “confident it will be able to pay off a significant portion of its term loan well before it becomes due, and amend, extend or refinance our remaining debt and/or preferred stock obligations.” Shares of Eastman Kodak (KODK) slumped more than 25% in midday trading Tuesday. Rise and fall The Eastman Kodak Company incorporated in 1892, but the company traces its roots back to 1879, when George Eastman obtained hist first patent for a plate-coating machine. In 1888, Eastman sold the first Kodak camera for $25. At the time, photography was not a mass business because of the technical skills and equipment needed to do it, but the Kodak camera was designed to make photography more widely accessible. Eastman coined the slogan: “You push the button, we do the rest.” The name was largely meaningless, with the word “Kodak,” according to the company, being invented by Eastman out thin air: “The letter ‘K’ had been a favorite with me — it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter.” Kodak had a century...