Kodak’s corporate doom: 133-year-old photo icon warns investors it may cease operations with $500 million debt problem

In a quarterly filing released Monday alongside its second-quarter earnings report, Kodak’s management raised serious concerns its ability to continue operating over the next year

Without new funding or successful refinancing, the company could default, they said

Cash reserves also slimmed down

Chief financial officer David Bullwinkle said in the note the company is counting on a somewhat random source of liquidity: terminating its U.S

Kodak Retirement Income Plan and using excess assets to pay down debt

Kodak said it expects clarity by mid-August on how it will settle obligations to plan participants, and aims to complete the cess by December

Dave Zwang, a ing industry expert from analyst group WhatTheyThink, said Kodak’s pain isn’t unique. “Every major equipment manufacturer in commercial ing is feeling the same squeeze this year, in the U.S. and in Europe,” Zwang told Fortune. “Customers are holding back on big buys unless they absolutely have to

Tariffs and economic uncertainty aren’t giving them the warm-and-fuzzy to invest.” Kodak’s long fall Founded by George Eastman in the late 19th century, Kodak revolutionized photography by democratizing film, making cameras affordable for the masses

Its slogan—“You push the button, we do the rest”—became synonymous with convenient sentimentality

Then the digital revolution up the industry, and Kodak stumbled

In a twist of irony, it was a Kodak engineer who created the first digital camera—but, fearing the innovation would cannibalize their current duct, the company sat on the invention

They bet on film being a source of nostalgia, even as digital cameras took over the market with a mise of even more convenience

However, Zhang traced the decay back even earlier, to the mid-2000s, when then-CEO Antonio Pérez “basically decimated” Kodak’s chemical and film manufacturing—“the company’s roots”—laying off tens of thousands and selling off or destroying key facilities. “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater,” Zwang warned. “They blew their future.” When current CEO Jim Continenza took over, his job was to steer Kodak out of bankruptcy and rebuild its core. “It’s not just nostalgia film,” the analyst said. “They’ve had to rebuild a film line from scratch—equipment you can’t just order on Amazon—and now they’re at full manufacturing capacity.” Kodak’s film output today includes industrial ducts films for automotive components, not just 35mm rolls

Additionally, Kodak shifted from its consumer camera to focus on commercial ing, packaging, and specialty chemicals

In recent years, it has sought growth in advanced materials, including film for the movie industry and components for pharmaceuticals

In fact, the pharmaceutical pivot was so successful that the day Kodak secured a government loan to pursue manufacturing, their stock soared so quickly it broke circuit breakers

Kodak has also leaned into nostalgia with hundreds of brick-and-mortar retail stores, which are particularly internationally

Despite the brand’s trendiness, Timothy Calkins, a marketing fessor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, told The New York Times he found the trademark licensing “striking’” and “sad,” suggesting a sense of desperation in the Kodak brand

An uncertain path forward Kodak does have one bright spot from its second-quarter earnings: its Advanced Materials & Chemicals division saw revenue grow, and the company also recently secured FDA registration for a new pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, allowing it to duce regulated ducts

CEO Jim Continenza framed the development as part of Kodak’s transformation into a manufacturer with diversified ducts. “We continue to accelerate the growth of our Advanced Materials & Chemicals ,” he wrote in the earnings release, adding that U.S. manufacturing capacity could help shield Kodak from potential tariff shocks

The question is whether that shield will be strong enough

The going-concern disclosure, near the end of the earnings report, makes that Kodak’s plans to right the ship—pension reversion, debt restructuring, and refinancing—are not entirely within its control

U.S. accounting rules require such a warning when management cannot conclude those steps are “bable.” “They need time and money,” Zwang said. “Time is hard to get, but if they can get the money, they might just rebuild this thing.” For now, investors are wondering if the company can imbably reinvent itself for the second, third, or fourth time, or if this is the long-awaited fade-out of a company that once defined how the world captured its memories

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