Kodak edges toward bankruptcy

Co’s inability to rebuild after the digital wave took a toll on its film business

THE LEGACY

Eastman Kodak’s legacy spans 13 decades

It rolled out Kodachrome, the first commercially successful amateur colour film, in 1935

But George Eastman was unable to see its debut. Eastman, a pioneering inventor and prolific philanthropist, committed suicide in 1932

Nearly a century later, in 1981, its sales topped $10 billion

HAZY PICTURE

The company entered digital camera movement with its Professional Digital Camera System in 1991

Veteran Hewlett Packard executive Antonio Perez joined Kodak in 2003 and became CEO two years later

The company began to fade in the same year as digital cameras took over the market

Billionaire financier Carl Icahn ended a brief, but profitable, stint as a Kodak shareholder in 2004

COST CUTS TO STAY AFLOAT

In January 2004, the company said it would trim costs by shrinking manufacturing, and cutting some 15,000 jobs

Its work force has since been pared to about 18,800, at the end of 2010, down from 86,000 in 1998

WEEK’S HITS & BLOWS

On Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange said the company may be delisted if it cannot get its stock price back above $1-level

On Wednesday, its share price plunged 28% to 47 cents a share; Thursday it sank another 10.6% to 42 cents as Moody's downgraded debt rating to a very low Caa3

On Thursday, Kodak's chief communications officer quit. Three board directors have quit in the past two weeks

The company is still hoping that it can sell off some of its valuable patent portfolio to raise money. But if that last-ditch effort fails, it could file for bankruptcy