Eastman Kodak Company has finally pulled the trigger.
"After considering the advantages of Chapter 11 at this time, the board of directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe that this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak," CEO Antonio M. Perez said in announcing the decision.
The filing listed assets of $5.1 billion and debts of $6.75 billion...
As of a year ago, Kodak had 7,100 employees in the Rochester area and 18,800 companywide. The worldwide figure is now 17,000, the company said in its bankruptcy papers, about 8,000 of them in the U.S. It did not give a new Rochester-area figure.
At its peak in the early 1980s, the company employed 62,000 people in Rochester and 130,000 worldwide.Under Perez's enlightened stewardship, Kodak's stock price dropped from $25/share to bupkes. One would assume Mr. Perez had his hands full getting ready for a big garage sale at Kodak Park, but the Spanish-born business genius still has enough free time to serve on something called "President Barack Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness."
The company which gave the concept of photography will cease to exist.This raises an important topic of whether technology and tradition can go hand in hand with technical innovations flying faster than the speed of light it has become difficult for even humans to keep up pace with it.No doubt a company of the caliber of Kodak has given up.I remember the old negatives and the Kodak cameras that we used to have.Some of the best memories of my life are inked in Kodak.
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