![Kodacolor II film C 126-20 126 film cartridge (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Kodacolor_II_film_C_126-20_126_film_cartridge_%281%29.jpg)
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
, and is incorporated in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. Kodak provides packaging, functional printing, graphic communications, and professional services for businesses around the world. Its main business segments are Print Systems, Enterprise
Inkjet
Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensi ...
Systems, Micro 3D Printing and Packaging, Software and Solutions, and Consumer and Film.
It is best known for
photographic film
Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of th ...
products.
Kodak was founded by
George Eastman
George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the ...
and
Henry A. Strong
Henry Alvah Strong (August 30, 1838 – July 26, 1919) was an American photography businessman. He was the first president of the Eastman Kodak Company.
Early life and family
Henry Strong was born on August 30, 1838 in Rochester, New York. He g ...
on May 23, 1892. During most of the 20th century, Kodak held a dominant position in photographic film. The company's ubiquity was such that its "
Kodak moment"
tagline
In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...
entered the common lexicon to describe a personal event that deserved to be recorded for posterity. Kodak began to struggle financially in the late 1990s, as a result of the decline in sales of photographic film and its slowness in moving to
digital photography
Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The digitized image is sto ...
, despite developing the first
self-contained digital camera.
As a part of a turnaround strategy, Kodak began to focus on digital photography and
digital printing
Digital printing is a method of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format ...
, and attempted to generate revenues through aggressive
patent litigation
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may va ...
.
In January 2012, Kodak filed for
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
bankruptcy protection in the
.
Shortly thereafter Kodak announced that it would stop making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames and focus on the corporate digital imaging market. Digital cameras are still sold under the Kodak brand by JK Imaging Ltd under an agreement with Kodak. In August 2012, Kodak announced its intention to sell its
photographic film
Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of th ...
, commercial scanners and kiosk operations, as a measure to emerge from bankruptcy, but not its
motion picture film
Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed,
edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent pl ...
operations. In January 2013, the Court approved financing for Kodak to emerge from bankruptcy by mid 2013. Kodak sold many of its patents for approximately $525,000,000 to a group of companies (including
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
, Google, Facebook,
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
,
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
,
Adobe Systems
Adobe Inc. ( ), originally called Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American multinational computer software company incorporated in Delaware
and headquartered in San Jose, California. It has historically specialized in software for the crea ...
, and
HTC
HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...
) under the names
Intellectual Ventures
Intellectual Ventures is an American private equity company that centers on the development and licensing of intellectual property. Intellectual Ventures is one of the top-five owners of U.S. patents, as of 2011. Its business model focuses on ...
and
RPX Corporation
RPX Corporation (Rational Patent EXchange) is an American provider of international risk management services for patents. The company was founded in March 2008, and is based in San Francisco. It was incorporated on July 15, 2008. By acquiring pat ...
. On September 3, 2013, the company emerged from bankruptcy having shed its large legacy liabilities and exited several businesses.
Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging are now part of
Kodak Alaris
Kodak Alaris is a British manufacturer and marketer of traditional photographic supplies (including film, paper, and processing chemicals), hardware and software for digital imaging and information management, and retail printing kiosks. The com ...
, a separate company owned by the UK-based Kodak Pension Plan.
In response to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
in 2020, Kodak announced in late July that year it would begin production of pharmaceutical materials.
History
Name
The letter ''k'' was a favorite of Eastman's; he is quoted as saying, "it seems a
strong, incisive sort of letter."
He and his mother, Maria, devised the name ''Kodak'' using an
Anagrams
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...
set. Eastman said that there were three principal concepts he used in creating the name: it should be short, easy to pronounce, and not resemble any other name or be associated with anything else.
According to a 1920 ad, the name "was simply inventedmade up from letters of the alphabet to meet our trade-mark requirements. It was short and euphonious and likely to stick in the public mind."
Beginning and strategy
![Eastman Kodak HQ 1900](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Eastman_Kodak_HQ_1900.jpg)
From the company's founding by
George Eastman
George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the ...
in 1888, Kodak followed the
razor and blades business model
The razor and blades business model is a business model in which one item is sold at a low price (or given away for free) in order to increase sales of a complementary good, such as consumable supplies. It is different from loss leader marketing ...
of selling inexpensive cameras and making large margins from consumables – film, chemicals, and paper. As late as 1976, Kodak commanded 90% of film sales and 85% of camera sales in the U.S.
Kodak developed and patented the first handheld digital camera in 1975.
Kodak Camera (1888)
Kodak began selling its original camera, created by
George Eastman
George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the ...
, in 1888 in the US for $25. It was a leather-covered
box camera
A box camera is a simple type of camera, the most common form being a cardboard or plastic box with a lens in one end and film at the other. They were sold in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lenses are often single ...
that came pre-loaded with 100-exposure
roll film
Roll film or rollfilm is any type of spool-wound photographic film protected from white light exposure by a paper backing. The term originated in contrast to sheet film. Confusingly, roll film was originally often referred to as "cartridge" film b ...
. When used up, the entire camera could be sent to the Kodak factory, after which it would be returned loaded with fresh film along with the
negatives and mounted prints, for a cost of $10. It was advertised with the slogan "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest".
Replacement film was sold for $2 for customers who had access to
photographic processing
Photographic processing or photographic development is the chemical means by which photographic film or paper is treated after photographic exposure to produce a negative or positive image. Photographic processing transforms the latent image into ...
.
The ease of use and relatively low cost made photography widely accessible to the general public rather than only professional photographers, beginning the modern era of consumer photography.
Characteristics
The Kodak was a camera box built in the shape of a
parallelepiped
In geometry, a parallelepiped is a three-dimensional figure formed by six parallelograms (the term ''rhomboid'' is also sometimes used with this meaning). By analogy, it relates to a parallelogram just as a cube relates to a square. In Euclidea ...
, with a
fixed-focus lens
A photographic lens for which the focus is not adjustable is called a fixed-focus lens or sometimes focus-free. The focus is set at the time of lens design, and remains fixed. It is usually set to the hyperfocal distance, so that the depth of fiel ...
on the front and no
viewfinder
In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and, in many cases, to focus the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main ...
; two V shape silhouettes at the top aided in aiming in the direction of the subject. At the top it had a rotating key to advance the film, a pull-string to set the
shutter, and a button on the side to release it, exposing the
celluloid
Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporar ...
film. Inside, it had a rotating bar (this bar was soon replaced by a simpler mechanism due to its manufacturing price) to operate the shutter: when the user pressed the button to take a photograph, an inner rope was tightened and the
photographic exposure
In photography, exposure is the amount of light per unit area (the image plane's illuminance times the exposure time) reaching a frame of photographic film or the surface of an electronic image sensor, as determined by shutter speed, lens F-n ...
began. Once the photograph had been taken, the user had to rotate the upper key to change the selected frame within the
celluloid
Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporar ...
tape.
Rivalry with Fujifilm
Japanese competitor
Fujifilm
, trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals.
The offerings from th ...
entered the U.S. market (via Fuji Photo Film U.S.A.) with lower-priced film and supplies, but Kodak did not believe that American consumers would ever desert its brand.
Kodak declined an opportunity to become the official film of the
1984 Los Angeles Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...
; Fuji won these sponsorship rights, which gave it a permanent foothold in the market. Fuji opened a film plant in the U.S., and its aggressive marketing and price cutting began taking market share from Kodak. Fuji went from a 10% share in the early 1990s to 17% in 1997. Fuji also made headway into the professional market with specialty transparency films such as
Velvia
Velvia is a brand of daylight-balanced color reversal film produced by the Japanese company Fujifilm. The name is a portmanteau of "Velvet Media", a reference to its smooth image structure. The original incarnation of the film was called "Ve ...
and
Provia
Provia is a brandname for a pair of daylight-balanced color reversal films (slide film) produced by the Japanese film company Fujifilm. It is currently available in one speed, 100/21°, marketed as Fujichrome Provia 100F Professional DP III'',. ...
, which competed successfully with Kodak's signature professional product,
Kodachrome
Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years Kodachrome was widely used ...
, but used the more economical and common E-6 processing machines which were standard in most processing labs, rather than the dedicated machines required by Kodachrome. Fuji's films soon also found a competitive edge in higher-speed negative films, with a tighter grain structure.
In May 1995, Kodak filed a petition with the US Commerce Department under section 301 of the Commerce Act arguing that its poor performance in the Japanese market was a direct result of unfair practices adopted by Fuji. The complaint was lodged by the United States with the
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
. On January 30, 1998, the WTO announced a "sweeping rejection of Kodak's complaints" about the film market in Japan. Kodak's financial results for the year ending December 1997 showed that the company's revenues dropped from $15.97 billion in 1996 to $14.36 billion in 1997, a fall of more than 10%; its net earnings went from $1.29 billion to just $5 million for the same period. Kodak's market share declined from 80.1% to 74.7% in the United States, a one-year drop of five percentage points that had observers suggesting that Kodak was slow to react to changes and underestimated its rivals.
Although from the 1970s both Fuji and Kodak recognized the upcoming threat of digital photography, and although both sought diversification as a mitigation strategy, Fuji was more successful at diversification.
[
]
Shift to digital
Although Kodak developed the first handheld digital camera in 1975, the product was dropped for fear it would threaten Kodak's main income, its photographic film business.[ In the 1990s, Kodak planned a decade-long journey to move to digital technology. CEO ]George M. C. Fisher
George Myles Cordell Fisher (born 1940 in Anna, Illinois) is an American business executive. He served as the chief executive officer and chairman of Eastman Kodak Company from 1993 to 2000. Prior to joining Kodak, Fisher worked at Motorola, Inc. ...
reached out to Microsoft and other new consumer merchandisers. Apple's pioneering QuickTake
The Apple QuickTake (codenamed ''Venus'', ''Mars'', ''Neptune'') is one of the first consumer digital camera lines. It was launched in 1994 by Apple Computer and was marketed for three years before being discontinued in 1997. Three models of the ...
consumer digital cameras, introduced in 1994, had the Apple label but were produced by Kodak. The DC-20 and DC-25 launched in 1996. Overall, though, there was little implementation of the new digital strategy. Kodak's core business faced no pressure from competing technologies, and as Kodak executives could not imagine a world without traditional film there was little incentive to deviate from that course. Consumers gradually switched to the digital offerings from companies such as Sony. In 2001 film sales dropped, which was attributed by Kodak to the financial shocks caused by the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
. Executives hoped that Kodak might be able to slow the shift to digital through aggressive marketing.
Under Daniel Carp
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...
, Fisher's successor as CEO, Kodak made its move in the digital camera market, with its EasyShare family of digital cameras. Kodak spent tremendous resources studying customer behavior, finding out that women in particular loved taking digital photos but were frustrated in moving them to their computers. This key unmet consumer need became a major opportunity. Once Kodak got its product development started, they released a wide range of products which made it easy to share photos via PCs. One of their key innovations was a printer dock, where consumers could insert their cameras into this compact device, press a button, and watch their photos roll out. By 2005, Kodak ranked No. 1 in the U.S. in digital camera sales that surged 40% to $5.7 billion.
Despite the high growth, Kodak failed to anticipate how fast digital cameras became commodities, with low profit margins, as more companies entered the market in the mid-2000s. In 2001, Kodak held the No. 2 spot in U.S. digital camera sales (behind Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
), but lost $60 on every camera sold, while there was also a dispute between employees from its digital and film divisions. The film business, where Kodak enjoyed high profit margins, fell 18% in 2005. The combination of these two factors resulted in disappointing profits overall. Its digital cameras soon became undercut by Asian competitors that could produce their offerings more cheaply. Kodak had a 27% market-leading share in 1999 that dropped to 15% by 2003. In 2007, Kodak was No. 4 in U.S. digital camera sales with a 9.6% share, and by 2010, they held 7% in seventh place behind Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western can ...
, Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
, Nikon
(, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group.
Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...
, and others, according to research firm IDC. Also, an ever-smaller percentage of digital pictures were being taken on dedicated digital cameras, being gradually displaced in the late 2000s by cameras on cellphones, smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
s, and tablets.
New strategy
Kodak then began a strategy shift: while Kodak had previously done everything in-house, CEO Antonio Pérez shut down film factories and eliminated 27,000 jobs as it outsourced its manufacturing. Pérez invested heavily in digital technologies and new services that capitalized on its technology innovation to boost profit margins. He also spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build up a high-margin printer ink business to replace falling film sales. Kodak's ink strategy rejected the razor and blades business model
The razor and blades business model is a business model in which one item is sold at a low price (or given away for free) in order to increase sales of a complementary good, such as consumable supplies. It is different from loss leader marketing ...
used by dominant market leader Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
in that Kodak's printers were expensive but the ink was cheaper. As of 2011, these new lines of inkjet printers were said to be on verge of turning a profit, although some analysts were skeptical as printouts had been replaced gradually by electronic copies on computers, tablets, and smartphones. Home photograph printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software, and packaging were viewed as the company's new core businesses, with sales from those four businesses projected to double to nearly $2 billion in revenue in 2013 and account for 25% of all sales. However, while Kodak named home printers as a core business as late as August 2012, at the end of September declining sales forced Kodak to announce an exit from the consumer inkjet market.
Kodak has also turned to litigation
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
to generate revenue. In 2010, it received $838 million from patent licensing that included a settlement with LG.
In 2010, Apple filed a patent-infringement claim against Kodak. On May 12, 2011, Judge Robert Rogers rejected Apple's claims that two of its digital photography patents were being violated by Kodak.
On July 1, 2011, the U.S. International Trade Commission
The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It is an independent, bipartisan entity that analyze ...
partially reversed a January decision by an administrative law judge
An administrative law judge (ALJ) in the United States is a judge and trier of fact who both presides over trials and adjudicates claims or disputes involving administrative law. ALJs can administer oaths, take testimony, rule on questions of evid ...
stating that neither Apple nor Research in Motion had infringed upon Kodak's patents. The ITC remanded the matter for further proceedings before the ALJ.
Bankruptcy
In 2011, despite the turnaround progress, Kodak rapidly used up its cash reserves, stoking fears of bankruptcy; it had $957 million in cash in June 2011, down from $1.6 billion in January 2001. In 2011, Kodak reportedly explored selling off or licensing its vast portfolio of patents to stave off bankruptcy. By January 2012, analysts suggested that the company could enter bankruptcy followed by an auction of its patents, as it was reported to be in talks with Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...
to provide debtor-in-possession financing Debtor-in-possession financing or DIP financing is a special form of financing provided for companies in financial distress, typically during restructuring under corporate bankruptcy law (such as Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US or CCAA in Canada). ...
.[ This was confirmed on January 19, 2012, when the company filed for ]Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
bankruptcy protection and obtained a $950 million, 18-month credit facility from Citigroup to enable it to continue operations. Under the terms of its bankruptcy protection, Kodak had a deadline of February 15, 2013, to produce a reorganization plan.
In April 2013, Kodak showed its first Micro Four-Thirds camera, to be manufactured by JK Imaging
JK may refer to:
People
*Jay Kay (Jason Luís Cheetham, born 1969), English musician and lead singer of Jamiroquai
*Jaykae (Janum Khan, born 1991), English rapper and actor
*JK-47 (Jacob Paulson, born 1991/1992), Indigenous Australian rapper an ...
.
On September 3, 2013, Kodak announced that it emerged from bankruptcy as a technology company focused on imaging for business. Its main business segments are Digital Printing & Enterprise and Graphics, Entertainment & Commercial Films.
On March 12, 2014, Kodak announced that Jeffrey J. Clarke had been named as chief executive officer and a member of its board of directors.
On January 1, 2015, Kodak announced a new five business division structure; Print Systems, Enterprise Inkjet Systems, Micro 3D Printing and Packaging, Software and Solutions, and Consumer and Film.
Timeline
1880–1898
*April 1880: George Eastman leased the third floor of a building on State Street in Rochester N.Y. and began the commercial manufacture of dry plate
Dry plate, also known as gelatin process, is an improved type of photographic plate. It was invented by Dr. Richard L. Maddox in 1871 and had become so widely adopted by 1879 that the first dry plate factory had been established. With much of ...
s.
*January 1, 1881: Eastman and businessman Henry A. Strong formed a partnership called the Eastman Dry Plate Company. Eastman resigned his position at the Rochester Savings Bank to work full-time at the Eastman Dry Plate Company.
*1884: The Eastman-Strong partnership was dissolved and the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company formed with 14 shareowners. The Eastman Dry Plate Company was responsible for the first cameras suitable for non-expert use.
*1885: George Eastman
George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the ...
bought David Houston's patents for roll film
Roll film or rollfilm is any type of spool-wound photographic film protected from white light exposure by a paper backing. The term originated in contrast to sheet film. Confusingly, roll film was originally often referred to as "cartridge" film b ...
and developed them further. These were the basis for the invention of motion picture film, as used by early filmmakers and Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...
.
*September 4, 1888: Eastman registered the trademark Kodak.
*1888: The first model of the Kodak camera appeared. It took round pictures in diameter, was of the fixed focus
A photographic lens for which the focus is not adjustable is called a fixed-focus lens or sometimes focus-free. The focus is set at the time of lens design, and remains fixed. It is usually set to the hyperfocal distance, so that the depth of fie ...
type, and carried a roll of film enough for 100 exposures. Its invention practically marked the advent of amateur photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed i ...
, as before that time both apparatus and processes were too burdensome to classify photography as recreation. The roll film
Roll film or rollfilm is any type of spool-wound photographic film protected from white light exposure by a paper backing. The term originated in contrast to sheet film. Confusingly, roll film was originally often referred to as "cartridge" film b ...
used in the first model of the Kodak camera had a paper base but was soon superseded by a film with a cellulose
Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall ...
base, a practical transparent flexible film. The first films had to be loaded into the camera and unloaded in the dark room, but the film cartridge system with its protecting strip of opaque paper made it possible to load and unload the camera in ordinary light. The Kodak Developing Machine (1900) and its simplified successor, the Kodak Film Tank, provided the means for daylight development of film, making the dark room unnecessary for any of the operations of amateur photography. The earlier types of the Kodak cameras were of the box form and of fixed focus, and as various sizes were added, devices for focusing the lenses were incorporated.
*1889: The Eastman Company was formed.
*1891: Opens its first facility outside the U.S. in Harrow, England (Kodak Harrow
The Kodak Works, Harrow was a photographic manufacturing plant and research and development centre on Headstone Drive, Harrow, North West London. Built by the American Kodak company in 1890, it was their largest factory in the United Kingdom and ...
).
*1891: George Eastman
George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the ...
began to produce a second line of cameras, the Ordinary range.
*1892: It was renamed the Eastman Kodak Company in 1892. Eastman Kodak Company of New York was organized. He coined the advertising slogan, "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest
"You Press the Button, We Do the Rest" was an advertising slogan coined by George Eastman, the founder of Kodak, in 1888. Eastman believed in making photography available to the world, and making it possible for anyone who had the desire to take g ...
." The Kodak company thereby attained its name from the first simple roll film cameras produced by Eastman Dry Plate Company, known as the "Kodak" in its product line.
*Early 1890s: The first folding Kodak cameras were introduced. These were equipped with folding bellows that permitted much greater compactness.
*1895: The first pocket Kodak camera, the $5 Pocket Kodak, was introduced. It was of the box form type, slipping easily into an ordinary coat pocket, and producing negatives 1½ x 2 inches.
*1897: The first folding pocket Kodak camera was introduced, and was mentioned in the novel ''Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
'', published the same year.
*1898: George Eastman purchased the patent for Velox photographic paper from Leo Baekeland
Leo Hendrik Baekeland (November 14, 1863 – February 23, 1944) was a Belgian chemist. He is best known for the inventions of Velox photographic paper in 1893, and Bakelite in 1907. He has been called "The Father of the Plastics Industry" ...
for $1,000,000. After this time, Velox paper was then sold by Eastman Kodak.
1900–1999
*1900: The Brownie camera was introduced, creating a new mass market for photography.
*1901: The present company, Eastman Kodak Company of New Jersey, was formed under the laws of that state. Eventually, the business in Jamestown was moved in its entirety to Rochester, and the plants in Jamestown were demolished.
*1908: Kodak acquires the exclusive right to supply film stock for the MPPC cartel. A similar attempt to secure an arrangement with European producers at the Paris Film Congress
The Paris Film Congress was a major meeting of European film producers and distributors in the French capital Paris from 2–4 February 1909. It intended to create an association to protect the interests of the participants through the formation of ...
the following year falls through when French courts rule it illegal.
*By 1920: An " Autographic Feature" provided a means for recording data on the margin of the negative at the time of exposure. This feature was supplied on all Kodak cameras with the exception of a box camera designed for making panoramic pictures and was discontinued in 1932.
*1920: Tennessee Eastman
Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals and ...
was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary. The company's primary purpose was the manufacture of chemicals, such as acetyl
In organic chemistry, acetyl is a functional group with the chemical formula and the structure . It is sometimes represented by the symbol Ac (not to be confused with the element actinium). In IUPAC nomenclature, acetyl is called ethanoyl, ...
s, needed for Kodak's film photography products.
*1930: Eastman Kodak Company was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.
The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity inde ...
index on July 18, 1930. The company remained listed as one of the DJIA companies for the next 74 years, ending in 2004.
*1932: George Eastman dies at age 77 on March 14, 1932, taking his own life with a gunshot. The suicide note he leaves behind reads, "To my friends: My work is done. Why wait?"
*1935: Kodak introduced Kodachrome
Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years Kodachrome was widely used ...
, a color reversal stock for movie and slide film.
*1936: Kodak branches out into manufacture of hand-grenades.
*1940–1944: Eastman Kodak ranked 62nd among United States corporations in the value of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
military production contracts.
*1945: Kodak researchers discover the first ever detonation of an atomic bomb in New Mexico, because a radioactive contaminant was encountered in strawboard material used by the Eastman Kodak Company for packaging photographic sensitive films.
*1934–1956: Kodak introduces the Retina Series 35mm Camera
*1958: Kodak releases an adhesive called Eastman No. 910. To the public, it is known as Super Glue.
*1959: Kodak introduced the Starmatic camera, the first automatic Brownie camera, which sold 10 million units over the next five years.
*1963: Kodak introduced the Instamatic
: ''For the film formats associated with the ''Instamatic'' and ''Pocket Instamatic'' camera ranges, see 126 film and 110 film respectively.''
The Instamatic is a series of inexpensive, easy-to-load 126 and 110 cameras made by Kodak beginning ...
camera, an inexpensive, easy-to-load, point-and-shoot camera
A point-and-shoot camera, also known as a compact camera and sometimes abbreviated to P&S, is a still camera designed primarily for simple operation. Most use focus free lenses or autofocus for focusing, automatic systems for setting the exposu ...
.
*1970: Kodak scientists disclose the continuous wave tunable dye laser
A dye laser is a laser that uses an organic dye as the lasing medium, usually as a liquid solution. Compared to gases and most solid state lasing media, a dye can usually be used for a much wider range of wavelengths, often spanning 50 to 100 na ...
. This becomes a product for several high-tech companies but not at Kodak.
*1975: Steven Sasson
Steven J. Sasson (born July 4, 1950) is an American electrical engineer and the inventor of the ''self-contained'' (portable) digital camera. Sasson is a 1972 (BS) and 1973 (MS) graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in electrical engineering ...
, then an electrical engineer at Kodak, invented a digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...
.[
*1975: Kodak releases their first plain paper photocopier the Kodak Ektaprint 100 Copier-Duplicator.]
*1976: The Bayer pattern
A Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array (CFA) for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photosensors. Its particular arrangement of color filters is used in most single-chip digital image sensors used in digital cameras, camco ...
color filter array (CFA) was invented by Eastman Kodak researcher Bryce Bayer. The order in which dyes are placed on an image sensor photosite is still in use today. The basic technology is still the most commonly used of its kind to date.
*1976: Kodak introduced the first Kodamatic, instant picture cameras, using a similar film and technology to that of the Polaroid company.
*1976: The company sold 90% of the photographic film in the US along with 85% of the cameras as well as Kodak introducing a new president to the company, named Robert Moyer. Robert Moyer stayed on the board as a chairman until 1989.
*1978: Kodak introduces the Ektachem clinical chemistry testing system. The system employs dry film technology, and within 5 years was being used by most hospitals in the country.
*1981: Kodak was sued by Polaroid
Polaroid may refer to:
* Polaroid Corporation, an American company known for its instant film and cameras
* Polaroid camera, a brand of instant camera formerly produced by Polaroid Corporation
* Polaroid film, instant film, and photographs
* Polar ...
for infringement of its Instant Picture patents. The suit ran for five years, the court finally finding in favour of Polaroid in 1986.
*1982: Kodak launched the Kodak Disc film format for consumer cameras. The format ultimately proved unpopular and was later discontinued.
*1986: Kodak scientists created the world's first megapixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...
sensor, capable of recording 1.4 million pixels and producing a photo-quality print.
*1987: Ching W. Tang
Ching Wan Tang (; born July 23, 1947) is a Hong Kong–American physical chemist. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2018 for inventing OLED (together with Steven Van Slyke), and was awarded the 2011 Wolf Prize in Chemi ...
, a senior research associate, and his colleague, Steven Van Slyke, developed the first multi-layer OLED
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED or organic LED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light i ...
s at the Kodak Research Laboratories, for which he later became a Fellow of the Society for Information Display (SID)
*1988: Kodak buys Sterling Drug
Sterling Drug was an American global pharmaceutical company, also known as Sterling Winthrop, Inc. in its last years (after the merger with Winthrop-Stearns Inc. which itself resulted from the merger of ''Winthrop Chemical Company Inc.'' and '' ...
for $5.1 Billion
*1988: Kodak scientists introduce the coumarin
Coumarin () or 2''H''-chromen-2-one is an aromatic organic chemical compound with formula . Its molecule can be described as a benzene molecule with two adjacent hydrogen atoms replaced by a lactone-like chain , forming a second six-membered h ...
tetramethyl laser dye
Laser dyes are dyes used as laser medium in a dye laser. Laser dyes include the coumarins and the rhodamines. Coumarin dyes emit in the green region of the spectrum, whereas rhodamine dyes are used for emission in the yellow-red. The color emi ...
s also used in OLED devices. These become a successful product until the line of fine chemicals is sold.
*1988: Kodak buys IBMs PhotoCopier arm for an undisclosed sum.
*1991: The Kodak Professional Digital Camera System or DCS, the first commercially available digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera. A customized camera back bearing the digital image sensor was mounted on a Nikon F3
The Nikon F3 was Nikon's third professional single-lens reflex camera body, preceded by the F and F2. Introduced in 1980, it had manual and semi-automatic exposure control whereby the camera would select the correct shutter speed (aperture pri ...
body and released by Kodak in May; the company had previously shown the camera at photokina
Photokina (rendered in the promoters' branding as "photokina") is a trade fair held in Europe for the photographic and imaging industries. It is the world's largest such trade fair. The first Photokina was held in Cologne, Germany, in 1950, an ...
in 1990.
*1993: Eastman Chemical
Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals and ...
, a Kodak subsidiary founded by George Eastman in 1920 to supply Kodak's chemical needs, was spun off as a separate corporation. Eastman Chemical became a Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
company in its own right.
*1994: Apple Quicktake
The Apple QuickTake (codenamed ''Venus'', ''Mars'', ''Neptune'') is one of the first consumer digital camera lines. It was launched in 1994 by Apple Computer and was marketed for three years before being discontinued in 1997. Three models of the ...
, a consumer digital camera was debuted by Apple Computer. Some models were manufactured by Kodak.
*1996: Kodak sells its photocopier arm to Danka.
2000–2009
*2003: Kodak introduced the ''Kodak EasyShare LS633 Digital Camera'', the first camera to feature an AMOLED
AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescence, electroluminescent materia ...
display, and the ''Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock 6000'', the world's first printer-and-camera dock combination.
*November 2003: Kodak acquired the Israel-based company Algotec Systems, a developer of advanced picture archiving and communication system
A picture archiving and communication system (PACS) is a medical imaging technology which provides economical storage and convenient access to images from multiple modalities (source machine types). Electronic images and reports are transmitted ...
s (PACS), which enable radiology departments to digitally manage and store medical images and information.
*January 2004: Kodak announced that it would stop selling traditional film cameras in Europe and North America, and cut up to 15,000 jobs (around a fifth of its total workforce at the time).
*April 8, 2004: Kodak was delisted from the Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.
The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity inde ...
index, having been a constituent for 74 consecutive years.
*May 2004: Kodak signed an exclusive long-term agreement with Lexar
Lexar Media, Inc. is a Chinese brand of flash memory products manufactured by the Chinese company Longsys.
The Lexar "JumpDrive" trademark was often used synonymously with the term USB flash drives when the technology was first adopted.
Histo ...
Media, licensing the Kodak brand for use on digital memory cards designed, manufactured, sold, and distributed by Lexar.
*January 2005: The ''Kodak EasyShare-One Digital Camera'', the world's first Wi-Fi consumer digital camera capable of sending pictures by email, was unveiled at the 2005 CES.
*January 2005: Kodak acquired the Israel-based company OREX Computed Radiography, a provider of compact computed radiography systems that enable medical practitioners to acquire patient x-ray images digitally.
*January 2005: Kodak acquired the Burnaby
Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...
, British Columbia, Canada-based company Creo.
*January 2006: Kodak unveiled the ''Kodak EasyShare V570
The Kodak EasyShare V570 was a 5-megapixel digital camera manufactured by Eastman Kodak. Announced on January 2, 2006, it was an upper-end model in the consumer price range, advertised at $400 in the United States in January 2006. It had an innov ...
Dual Lens Digital Camera'', the world's first dual-lens digital still camera and smallest ultra-wide-angle optical zoom digital camera, at the CES. Using proprietary Kodak Retina Dual Lens technology, the V570 wrapped an ultra-wide angle lens (23 mm) and a second optical zoom lens (39–117 mm) into a body less than 2.5 cm (an inch) thick.
*April 2006: Kodak introduced the ''Kodak EasyShare V610 Dual Lens Digital Camera'', at that time the world's smallest 10× (38–380 mm) optical zoom camera at less than 2.5 cm (an inch) thick.
*August 1, 2006: Kodak agreed to divest its digital camera manufacturing operations to Flextronics
Flex Ltd. (previously known as Flextronics International Ltd. or Flextronics) is an American Singaporean-domiciled multinational diversified manufacturing company. It is the third largest global electronics manufacturing services (EMS), origi ...
, including assembly, production and testing. As part of the sale it was agreed that Flextronics would manufacture and distribute consumer digital cameras for Kodak, and conduct some design and development functions for it. Kodak kept high-level digital camera design in house, continued to conduct research and development in digital still cameras, and retained all intellectual property and patents. Approximately 550 Kodak personnel transferred to Flextronics.
*January 10, 2007: Kodak agreed to sell Kodak Health Group to Onex Corporation
Onex Corporation is an investment manager founded in 1984. The firm manages capital on behalf of Onex shareholders, institutional investors and high net worth clients around the world. As of September 30, 2022, Onex had approximately US$47.2 ...
for $2.35 billion in cash, and up to $200 million in additional future payments if Onex achieved specified returns on the acquisition. The sale was completed May 1. Kodak used part of the proceeds to fully repay its approximately $1.15 billion of secured term debt. Around 8,100 employees transferred to Onex, and Kodak Health Group was renamed Carestream Health
Carestream Health, formerly Eastman Kodak Company's Health Group, is an independent subsidiary of Onex Corporation which is one of Canada's largest corporations.
History
In 2007, the Kodak Health Group was sold to Onex Corporation for $2.35 ...
. Kodak Health Group had revenue of $2.54 billion for the 12 months to September 30, 2006.
*April 19, 2007: Kodak announced an agreement to sell its light management films business, which produced films designed to improve the brightness and efficiency of liquid crystal displays, to Rohm and Haas
Rohm and Haas Company is a manufacturer of specialty chemicals for end use markets such as building and construction, electronic devices, packaging, household and personal care products. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the company is organized i ...
. The divested business comprised 125 workers. As part of the transaction Rohm and Haas agreed to license technology and purchase equipment from Kodak, and lease Building 318 at Kodak Park
Eastman Business Park, formerly Kodak Park, is a large manufacturing and industrial complex in the city of Rochester, New York, in the United States. The complex is run by Eastman Kodak and is located north of downtown Rochester and south of L ...
. The sale price was not disclosed.
*May 25, 2007: Kodak announced a cross-licensing agreement with Chi Mei Optoelectronics
CHIMEI Corporation (; CMC) is a Taiwan-based performance materials company. It has long been known as the world’s largest vendor of ABS resins. It has factories in Tainan, Zhenjiang and Zhangzhou. It also produces advanced polymer materials, syn ...
and its affiliate Chi Mei EL (CMEL), enabling CMEL to use Kodak technology for active matrix OLED modules in a variety of small to medium size display applications.
*June 14, 2007: Kodak announced a two to fourfold increase in sensitivity to light (from one to two stops
Stop may refer to:
Places
*Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Facilities
* Bus stop
* Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck dri ...
) compared to current sensor designs. This design was a departure from the classic "Bayer filter
A Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array (CFA) for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photosensors. Its particular arrangement of color filters is used in most single-chip digital image sensors used in digital cameras, camco ...
" by adding panchromatic
Panchromatic emulsion is a type of black-and-white photographic emulsion that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light.
Description
A panchromatic emulsion renders a realistic reproduction of a scene as it appears to the human eye, altho ...
or "clear" pixels to the RGB elements on the sensor array. Since these pixels are sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light, they collect a significantly higher proportion of the light striking the sensor. In combination with advanced Kodak software algorithms optimized for these new patterns, photographers benefited from an increase in photographic speed (improving performance in low light), faster shutter speeds (reducing motion blur for moving subjects), and smaller pixels (higher resolutions in a given optical format) while retaining performance. The technology was credited to Kodak scientists John Compton and John Hamilton.
*September 4, 2007: Kodak announced a five-year extension of its partnership with Lexar Media.
*November 2008: Kodak released the Kodak Theatre HD Player, allowing photos and videos stored on a computer to be displayed on an HDTV. Kodak licensed technology from Hillcrest Labs
Hillcrest Labs was a sensor processing technology company that developed freespace motion-control technology and developed the first motion-controlled remote for television.''The Washington Post'' May 1, 2011. Steven OverlyAs the TV market shift ...
for the interface and pointer, which allowed a user to control the player with gestures.
*January 2009: Kodak posted a $137 million fourth-quarter loss and announced plans to cut up to 4,500 jobs.
*June 22, 2009: Kodak announced that it would cease selling Kodachrome
Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years Kodachrome was widely used ...
color film by the end of 2009, ending 74 years of production, after a dramatic decline in sales. This went along with Kodak ceasing operation of the division of Qualex that did film development for retail and commercial customers.
*December 4, 2009: Kodak sold its organic light-emitting diode
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED or organic LED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light i ...
(OLED) business unit to LG Electronics
LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG Corporation, the fourth largest '' chaebol'' in South Korea, and often considered a ...
, resulting in the lay-off of 60 people.
2010–2019
*December 2010: Standard & Poor's
S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is con ...
removed Kodak from its S&P 500
The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of D ...
index.
*September 2011: Kodak hired law firm Jones Day for restructuring advice and its stock dropped to an all-time low of $0.54 a share. During 2011, Kodak shares fell more than 80 percent.
*January 2012: Kodak received a warning from the New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
(NYSE) notifying it that its average closing price was below $1.00 for 30 consecutive days and that over the next 6 months it must increase the closing share price to at least $1 on the last trading day of each calendar month and have an average closing price of at least $1 over the 30 trading-days prior or it would be delisted. From the $90 range in 1997, Kodak shares closed at 76 cents on January 3, 2012. On January 8, 2012, Kodak shares closed over 50% higher after the company announced a major restructuring into two main divisions, one focused on products and services for businesses, and the other on consumer products including digital cameras.
*January 19, 2012: Kodak filed for Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
bankruptcy protection.[ The company's stock was delisted from NYSE and moved to OTC exchange. Following the news it ended the day trading down 35% at $0.36 a share.
*February 7, 2012: The Image Sensor Solutions (ISS) division of Kodak was sold to Truesense Imaging Inc.
*February 9, 2012: Kodak announced that it would exit the digital image capture business, phasing out its production of digital cameras. Kodak sees home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging with GlobalVision software integrated, as the core of its future business. Once the digital camera business is phased out, Kodak said its consumer business will focus on printing. It will seek a company to license its EasyShare digital camera brand.
*August 24, 2012: Kodak announced that it plans to sell its film, commercial scanner and kiosk divisions.
*September 10, 2012: Kodak announced plans to cut another 1,000 jobs by the end of 2012 and that it is examining further job cuts as it works to restructure its business in bankruptcy.
*September 28, 2012: Kodak announced that it is exiting the inkjet printer business.]
*December 20, 2012: Kodak announced that it plans to sell its digital imaging patents for about $525 million to some of the world's biggest technology companies, thus making a step to end bankruptcy.
*April 29, 2013: Kodak announced an agreement with the U.K. Kodak Pension Plan (KPP) to spin off Kodak's Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging businesses and settle $2.8 Billion in KPP claims.
*September 3, 2013: Kodak announces that it has emerged from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection as a company focused on serving commercial customers.
*October 17, 2013: Kodak brings European headquarters and the entire EAMER Technology Centre under one roof in Eysins, Switzerland. The relocation brings together the company's European headquarters and Inkjet demo facilities, which were based in Gland, Switzerland, and the Kodak EAMER Technology and Solutions Centre, which was based in La Hulpe
La Hulpe (; nl, Terhulpen, ; wa, L’ Elpe) is a municipality of Wallonia in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, 20 km south-east of the centre of Brussels, but only about 3 km from the edge of the Brussels-Capital Region. On Janua ...
, Belgium.
*March 12, 2014: Kodak names Jeffrey J. Clarke as its new chief executive officer.
*July 30, 2014: Kodak is negotiating with movie studios for an annual movie film order guarantee to preserve the last source of movie film manufacturing in the United States.
*December 2014: Kodak announced its first phone, the Kodak Ektra
The Kodak Ektra was a 35mm coupled rangefinder camera
A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder, typically a split-image rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject di ...
smartphone made by Bullitt Group
Bullitt Group Ltd is a British-based international mobile phone and consumer electronics business. Founded in 2009 by Colin Batt, David Floyd and Richard Wharton; Bullitt designs, manufactures, markets, and sells consumer electronic devices in ...
. The phone was expected to become available in December 2016, initially in Europe.
*January 2016: Kodak shows off a prototype of the new Super 8 Camera at CES.
*June 2016: Kodak spinoff company eApeiron is founded with assets acquired from Kodak and an investment by Alibaba
Ali Baba (character), Ali Baba is a character from the folk tale ''Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves''.
Ali Baba or Alibaba may also refer to:
Films
* Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1902 film), ''Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'' (1902 film), a F ...
. The company's mission is to eliminate “knock offs” and promote authenticity. Spearheaded by the company's founder, chairman and CEO Charles M. Fernandez
Charles M. Fernandez (born February 8, 1962) is executive chairman and chief executive officer of NextPlat, an e-commerce platform company.
Early life and education
Fernandez, was raised in Elmhurst, Queens. He is the son of Cuban immigrants. H ...
& Eastman Kodak CEO Jeffrey J Clarke (eApeiron's vice chairman.)
*January 2017: Kodak announced it was bringing back its Ektachrome film.
*May 2017: Kodak released the Ektra smartphone to the US market.
*June 2017: Kodak announced plans to release 7" and 10" tablets with Archos
Archos (, stylized as ARCHOS) is a French Multinational corporation, multinational consumer electronics, electronics company that was established in 1988 by Henri Crohas. Archos manufactures tablet computers, tablets, smartphones, portable media ...
in Europe.
*January 2018: Kodak announced plans to launch KodakCoin
KodakCoin (stylized KODAKCoin) was a photographer-oriented blockchain cryptocurrency that was planned for payments for licensing photographs; however, the project has failed and been shut down. The cryptocurrency was being developed under a br ...
, a photographer-oriented blockchain
A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...
cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...
.
*September 2018: Kodak announced that the 135 and Super 8 format of Ektachrome
Ektachrome is a brand name owned by Kodak for a range of transparency, still, and motion picture films previously available in many formats, including 35 mm and sheet sizes to 11 × 14 inch size. Ektachrome has a distinctive look that ...
is available again, with 16mm available later.
2020–present
*July 28, 2020: The Trump administration
Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...
announced that it planned to give Kodak a $765 million loan for manufacturing ingredients used in pharmaceuticals, to rebuild the national stockpile depleted by the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
and reduce dependency on foreign factories. The funding would come through U.S. International Development Finance Corporation
The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is a development finance institution and agency of the United States federal government. DFC invests in development projects primarily in lower and middle-income countries. Fi ...
, a government agency with international mandate. Within two days, the company's stock price had gained as much as 2,189% from its price at the close of July 27 on the NYSE
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the List of stock exchanges, world's largest s ...
. The ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported that one day before the White House announced the loan, Kodak CEO Jim Continenza was given 1.75 million stock options, some of which he was able to execute immediately. The funding was put on hold as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
began probing allegations of insider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider information ...
by Kodak executives ahead of the deal's announcement, and the funding agency's inspector general announced scrutiny into the loan terms.
*In 2021: Kodak removed a post from its Instagram feed that showed a photo from Xinjiang and made references to the Chinese government's genocide against the Uyghurs. It was removed after Chinese social media users criticized Kodak.
Products and services
Current
Kodak provides packaging, functional printing, graphic communications, and professional services for businesses around the world. Its main business segments are Print Systems, Enterprise Inkjet Systems, Micro 3D Printing and Packaging, Software and Solutions, and Consumer and Film.
Photographic film
Kodak currently produces a wide range of photographic film in both 35mm and 120 film formats. The current film resurgence caused film shortages worldwide, increasing the price of current film stocks. Kodak has been actively hiring new employees since 2020, especially in film production, to meet the current market demand for films.
= Color Reversal Film
=
* Kodak Ektachrome E100
= Color Negative Films
=
* Kodak ProImage 100
* Kodak Ektar 100
* Kodak Gold 200
* Kodak Ultramax 400
* Kodak ColorPlus/Kodacolor 200
* Kodak Portra 160
* Kodak Portra 400
* Kodak Portra 800
= Color Negative Industrial Film
=
* Kodak Aerocolor IV 125
= B&W Negative Films
=
* Kodak Tri-X 320
* Kodak Tri-X 400
* Kodak TMAX 100
* Kodak TMAX 400
* Kodak TMAX P3200
In 2018, Kodak launched a newly formulated version of the iconic Kodak Ektachrome 100 color reversal film
In photography, reversal film or slide film is a type of photographic film that produces a positive image on a transparent base. Instead of negatives and prints, reversal film is processed to produce transparencies or diapositives (abbreviate ...
in 35mm film format. The following year, the company announced the film stock in 120mm and 4x5 film format. Due to its specific look, HBO shot the second season of the hit TV series Euphoria
Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...
on Kodak Ektachrome with cinematographer Marcell Rév.
Digital printing and enterprise
Kodak provides high-speed, high-volume commercial inkjet, and color and black-and-white electrophotographic printing equipment and related consumables and services. It has an installed base of more than 5,000 units.
Its Prosper platform uses Stream inkjet technology Inkjet technology originally was invented for depositing aqueous inks on paper in 'selective' positions based on the ink properties only. Inkjet nozzles and inks were designed together and the inkjet performance was based on a design. It was used as ...
, which delivers a continuous flow of ink that enables constant and consistent operation, with uniform size and accurate placement, even at very high print speeds. Applications for Prosper include publishing, commercial print, direct mail, and packaging. The business also includes the customer base of Kodak VersaMark products.
The NexPress platform is used for printing short-run, personalized print applications for purposes such as direct mail, books, marketing collateral and photo products. The Digimaster platform uses monochrome electrophotographic printing technology to create high-quality printing of statements, short-run books, corporate documentation, manuals and direct mail.
Flexo printing
Kodak designs and manufactures products for flexography
Flexography (often abbreviated to flexo) is a form of printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate. It is essentially a modern version of letterpress, evolved with high speed rotary functionality, which can be used for printing on a ...
printing. Its Flexcel line of flexo printing systems allow label printers to produce their own digital plates for customized flexo printing and flexible printed packaging.
Functional printing
The company currently has strategic relationships with worldwide touch-panel sensor leaders, such as the partnerships with UniPixel announced on April 16, 2013, and Kingsbury Corp. launched on June 27, 2013.
Enterprise professional services
Enterprise professional services offers print and managed media services, brand protection
Brand protection is the process and set of actions that a right holder undertakes to prevent third parties from using its intellectual property without permission, as this may cause loss of revenue and, usually more importantly, destroys brand eq ...
solutions and services, and document management services to enterprise customers, including government, pharmaceuticals, and health, consumer and luxury good products, retail and finance.
Digital printing solutions
In 1997, Heidelberg Printing Machines AG and Eastman Kodak Co. created Nexpress Solutions LLC, a joint venture to develop a digital color printing press for the high-end market segment. Heidelberg acquired Eastman Kodak Co.'s Office Imaging black and white digital printing activities in 1999. In 2000, they launched the Digimaster 9110 black and white production printer and the NexPress 2100 digital color press.
In March 2004, Heidelberg transferred its Digital Print division to Eastman Kodak Co. under mutual agreement.
At present, Kodak has commercial web-fed presses, commercial imprinting systems – Prosper, VersaMark and commercial sheet-fed presses – NexPress digital production color press and DIGIMASTER HD digital black and white production printer.
Consumer inkjet ink cartridges
Kodak entered into consumer inkjet photo printers in a joint venture with manufacturer Lexmark
Lexmark International, Inc. is a privately held American company that manufactures laser printers and imaging products. The company is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. Since 2016 it has been jointly owned by a consortium of three multination ...
in 1999 with the Kodak Personal Picture Maker.
In February 2007, Kodak re-entered the market with a new product line of All-in-One
All in One or All-in-One may refer to:
Computing
* All-in-one PC, a desktop computer with the monitor and computer in the same case
* All-in-one printer or multifunction printer
* ALL-IN-1, an office automation software package from Digital Equipm ...
(AiO) inkjet printers that employ several technologies marketed as Kodacolor Technology
Kodacolor Technology is a Kodak-owned brand used to collectively market several of its inkjet printing technologies. It was announced on February 6, 2007 at the launch of Kodak EasyShare All-in-One Printers.
Kodacolor Technology is protected by ...
. Advertising emphasizes low price for ink cartridge
An ink cartridge or inkjet cartridge is a component of an inkjet printer that contains the ink that is deposited onto paper during printing.
Each ink cartridge contains one or more ink reservoirs; certain producers also add electronic contacts ...
s rather than for the printers themselves.
Kodak announced plans to stop selling inkjet printers in 2013 as it focuses on commercial printing but will still sell ink.
Graphics, Entertainment and Commercial Films (GECF)
Graphics
Kodak's graphics business consists of computer to plate (CTP) devices, which Kodak first launched in 1995 when the company introduced the first thermal CTP to market. Kodak's Graphics portfolio includes front-end controllers, production workflow software, CTP output devices, and digital plates.
Global Technical Services
Kodak's Global Technical Services ("GTS") for Commercial Imaging is focused on selling service contracts for Kodak products, including the following service categories: field services, customer support services, educational services, and professional services.
Entertainment Imaging and Commercial film
Kodak's Entertainment Imaging and Commercial Film group ("E&CF") encompasses its motion picture film business, providing motion imaging products (camera negative, intermediate, print and archival film), services and technology for the professional motion picture and exhibition industries.
E&CF also offers Aerial and Industrial Films including KODAK Printed Circuit Board film and delivers external sales for the company's component businesses: Polyester Film, Specialty Chemicals, Inks and Dispersions and Solvent Recovery.
Motion picture and TV production
The Kodak company played a role in the invention and development of the motion picture industry. Many cinema and TV productions are shot on Kodak film stocks.
The home market-oriented 8mm 8 mm or 8mm may refer to:
;Film technology
*8 mm film, a photographic cine film format principally intended for domestic use. The term may also refer to later variants:
** Super 8 mm film
** Single-8 film
** 8 mm video format, a type of video record ...
and Super 8
Super 8 or Super Eight may refer to:
Film
* Super 8 film, a motion picture film format released in 1965
* Super 8 film camera, a motion picture camera used to film Super 8mm motion picture format
* ''Super 8'' (2011 film), a science-fiction fi ...
formats were also developed by Kodak. Kodak also entered the professional television production video tape
Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette ...
market, briefly in the mid-1980s, under the product portfolio name of Eastman Professional Video Tape Products. In 1990, Kodak launched a Worldwide Student Program working with university faculty throughout the world to help nurture the future generation of film-makers. Kodak formed Educational Advisory Councils in the US, Europe and Asia made up of deans and chairs of some of the most prestigious film schools throughout the world to help guide the development of their program.
Kodak previously owned the visual effects film post-production facilities Cinesite in Los Angeles and London and also LaserPacific in Los Angeles. Kodak sold Cinesite to Endless LLP
Endless is a British private equity firm. It is headquartered at 3 Whitehall Quay, Leeds, with an office at 102 Park Street, London W1.
In 2017, Endless bought Jones Bootmaker, saving 840 jobs according to BBC. Endless has also invested in Wes ...
, an independent British private equity house.
In April 2010, Kodak sold LaserPacific and its subsidiaries Laser-Edit, Inc, and Pacific Video, Inc., in April 2010 for an undisclosed sum to TeleCorps Holdings, Inc.
Kodak also sold Pro-Tek Media Preservation Services, a film storage company in Burbank, California, to LAC Group
LAC Group, formerly known as Library Associates Companies (LAC), is an information services vendor for research and intelligence, library operations, spend and cost management and media archiving. The company provides skilled staffing and consulti ...
in October 2013.
Technical support and on-site service
Other
Kodak markets Picture CDs and other photo products such as calendars, photo books and photo enlargements through retail partners such as CVS, Walmart and Target and through its Kodak Gallery online service, formerly known as Ofoto.
Former
Still film cameras
On January 13, 2004, Kodak announced it would stop marketing traditional still film cameras (excluding disposable camera
A disposable or single-use camera is a simple box camera meant to be used once. Most use fixed-focus lenses. Some are equipped with an integrated flash unit, and there are even waterproof versions for underwater photography. Internally, the camera ...
s) in the United States, Canada and Western Europe, but would continue to sell film cameras in India, Latin America, Eastern Europe and China. By the end of 2005, Kodak had ceased manufacturing cameras that used the Advanced Photo System
Advanced Photo System (APS) is a discontinued film format for still photography first produced in 1996. It was marketed by Eastman Kodak under the brand name Advantix, by FujiFilm under the name Nexia, by Agfa under the name Futura and by Ko ...
. Kodak licensed the manufacture of Kodak branded cameras to Vivitar
Vivitar Corporation is a manufacturer, distributor, and marketer of photographic and optical equipment originally based in Santa Monica, California. Since 2008, the Vivitar name serves as Sakar International's house brand for digital imaging, o ...
in 2005 and 2006. After 2007 Kodak did not license the manufacture of any film camera with the Kodak name.
Instant cameras
After losing a patent battle with Polaroid Corporation
Polaroid is an American company best known for its instant film and cameras. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit the use of its Polaroid polarizing polymer. Land ran the company until 1981. Its peak employment was 21,00 ...
, Kodak left the instant camera
An instant camera is a camera which uses instant film, self-developing film to create a chemically Photographic processing, developed print shortly after taking the picture. Polaroid Corporation pioneered (and Patent, patented) consumer-friend ...
business on January 9, 1986. The Kodak instant camera included models known as the Kodamatic
An instant camera is a camera which uses instant film, self-developing film to create a chemically Photographic processing, developed print shortly after taking the picture. Polaroid Corporation pioneered (and Patent, patented) consumer-friend ...
and the Colorburst.
Polaroid was awarded damages in the patent trial in the amount of $909,457,567, a record at the time. (Polaroid Corp. v. Eastman Kodak Co., U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts, decided October 12, 1990, case no. 76-1634-MA. Published in the U.S. Patent Quarterly as 16 USPQ2d 1481). See also the following cases: Polaroid Corp. v. Eastman Kodak Co., 641 F.Supp. 828 28 USPQ 305(D. Mass. 1985), stay denied, 833 F.2d 930 USPQ2d 1080(Fed. Cir.), aff'd, 789 F.2d 1556 29 USPQ 561(Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 850 (1986).
Kodak was the exclusive supplier of negatives for Polaroid cameras from 1963 until 1969, when Polaroid chose to manufacture its own instant film
Instant film is a type of photographic film that was introduced by Polaroid Corporation to produce a visible image within minutes or seconds of the photograph's exposure. The film contains the chemicals needed for developing and fixing the photogr ...
.
Image sensors
As part of its move toward higher end products, Kodak announced on September 15, 2006, that the new Leica M8
The Leica M8 is the first digital camera in the rangefinder M series introduced by Leica Camera AG on 14 September 2006. It uses an APS-H 10.3-megapixel Kodak KAF-10500 CCD image sensor.
As of 15 November 2014, the most recent firmware version is ...
camera incorporates Kodak's KAF-10500 The KAF-10500 is a CCD imaging sensor designed by US photographic company Eastman Kodak. In September 2006 it was announced that the sensor was to be used in the Leica M8 digital rangefinder camera, having been specifically designed for this appl ...
image sensor
An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to make an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves (as they pass through or reflect off objects) into signals, small bursts of curr ...
. This was the second recent partnership between Kodak and the German optical manufacturer. In 2011, Kodak sold its Image Sensor Solutions business to Platinum Equity, which subsequently renamed it Truesense Imaging, Inc.
Floppy disks
In 1983, Kodak introduced a non-standard 3.3 million byte diskette; it was manufactured by an outside company, DriveTec. Another was announced in 1984. Kodak's 1985 purchase of Verbatim
Verbatim means word for word.
Verbatim may also refer to:
* Verbatim (brand), a brand of storage media and flash memory
* Verbatim (horse), an American racehorse
* ''Verbatim'' (magazine), edited by Erin McKean
* Verbatim theatre
Documentary the ...
, "a leading manufacturer of floppy disks" with over 2,000 employees, expanded their presence; part of this acquisition was Verbatim's ''Data Encore'' unit, which "copies software onto floppy disks in a way that makes it difficult for software 'pirates' to re-copy the material."
In 1982, prior to this purchase, Verbatim had partnered with a Japanese firm; in 1990 Kodak exited the diskette business and sold Verbatim to this firm, the forerunner of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
, or MCC, is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation. It is a Japanese corporation, that merged with Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation in 2005 to create Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation. Mitsubishi Chemical is the largest ...
. Kodak held onto Verbatim's optical disk
In computing and optical disc recording technologies, an optical disc (OD) is a flat, usually circular disc that encodes binary data (bits) in the form of Compact disk#Physical details, pits and lands on a special material, often aluminum, ...
unit.[
]
Digital cameras and video cameras
Many of Kodak's early compact digital cameras were designed and built by Chinon Industries
was a Japanese camera manufacturer. Kodak took a majority stake in the company in 1997, and made it a fully owned subsidiary of Kodak Japan, , in 2004 . As a subsidiary, it continues to develop digital camera models.
They manufactured several ...
, a Japanese camera manufacturer. In 2004, Kodak Japan acquired Chinon and many of its engineers and designers joined Kodak Japan.
The Kodak DCS
The Kodak Digital Camera System is a series of digital single-lens reflex cameras and digital camera backs that were released by Kodak in the 1990s and 2000s, and discontinued in 2005. They are all based on existing 35mm film SLRs from Nikon, Canon ...
series of digital single-lens reflex camera
A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor.
The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between ...
s and digital camera back
A digital camera back is a device that attaches to the back of a camera in place of the traditional negative film holder and contains an electronic image sensor. This lets cameras that were designed to use film take digital photographs. These ...
s were released by Kodak in the 1990s and 2000s, and discontinued in 2005. They were based on existing 35mm film 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film
* 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock
* 35MM 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format ...
SLRs from Nikon and Canon and the range included the original Kodak DCS
The Kodak Digital Camera System is a series of digital single-lens reflex cameras and digital camera backs that were released by Kodak in the 1990s and 2000s, and discontinued in 2005. They are all based on existing 35mm film SLRs from Nikon, Canon ...
, the first commercially available digital SLR.
In July 2006, Kodak announced that Flextronics
Flex Ltd. (previously known as Flextronics International Ltd. or Flextronics) is an American Singaporean-domiciled multinational diversified manufacturing company. It is the third largest global electronics manufacturing services (EMS), origi ...
would manufacture and help design its digital cameras.
Digital picture frames
Kodak first entered the digital picture frame market with the Kodak Smart Picture Frame in the fourth quarter of 2000. It was designed by Weave Innovations and licensed to Kodak with an exclusive relationship with Weave's StoryBox online photo network. Smart Frame owners connected to the network via an analog telephone connection built into the frame. The frame could hold 36 images internally and came with a six-month free subscription to the StoryBox network.
Kodak re-entered the digital photo frame market at CES in 2007 with the introduction of four new EasyShare-branded models that were available in sizes from , included multiple memory card slot
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
s, and some of which included Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
capability to connect with the Kodak Gallery
The Kodak Gallery was Kodak's consumer online digital photography web site. It featured online photo storage, sharing, viewing on a mobile phone, getting Kodak prints of digital pictures, and creating personalized photo gifts. The service was or ...
that gallery functionality has now been compromised due to gallery policy changes (see below).
Kodak Gallery
In June 2001, Kodak purchased the photo-developing website Ofoto
The Kodak Gallery was Kodak's consumer online digital photography web site. It featured online photo storage, sharing, viewing on a mobile phone, getting Kodak prints of digital pictures, and creating personalized photo gifts. The service was or ...
, later renamed Kodak Gallery. The website enables users to upload their photos into albums, publish them into prints, and create mousepads, calendars, etc. On March 1, 2012, Kodak announced that it sold Kodak Gallery to Shutterfly for $23.8 million.
Document imaging
Kodak provides scanning technology. Historically this industry began when George Eastman partnered with banks to image checks in the 1920s. Through the development of microfilm technology, Eastman Kodak was able to provide long term document storage. Document imaging was one of the first imaging solutions to move to "digital imaging" technology. Kodak manufactured the first digital document scanners for high speed document imaging. Today Kodak manufactures scanners for banking, finance, insurance, healthcare and other vertical industries. Kodak also provides associated document capture software and business process services. Eastman Kodak acquired the Bowe Bell & Howell scanner division in September 2009.
Photocopiers and duplicators
Kodak entered the plain paper photocopier market in 1975 with the Kodak Ektaprint 100 Copier-Duplicator. In 1986 they announced the Ektaprint 235 copier-duplicator, capable of producing 5,100 copies per hour, and the Ektaprint 300, capable of producing 6,000 copies per hour. In 1988 IBM exited the Photocopier industry, selling its interests to Kodak for an undisclosed sum. On Sept. 10, 1996 Kodak announced it was selling its Copier business to Danka for $684 million in cash, while Danka was later acquired by Konica Minolta in 2008.
Photographic film and paper
Kodak continues to produce specialty films and film for newer and more popular consumer formats, but it has discontinued the manufacture of film in older and less popular formats.
Kodak is a leading producer of silver halide
A silver halide (or silver salt) is one of the chemical compounds that can form between the element silver (Ag) and one of the halogens. In particular, bromine (Br), chlorine (Cl), iodine (I) and fluorine (F) may each combine with silver to prod ...
(AgX) paper used for printing from film and digital images. Minilabs located in retail stores and larger central photo lab operations (CLOs) use silver halide paper for photo printing. In 2005, Kodak announced it would stop producing black-and-white photo paper.
Photo kiosks
Kodak is a manufacturer of self-service photo kiosks that produce "prints in seconds" from multiple sources including digital input, scanned prints, Facebook, the Kodak Gallery and orders placed on-line using thermosublimation printer
Dye-Sublimation Printing (or dye-sub printing) is a digital computer printing technique that uses heat to transfer dye onto materials such as plastic, card, paper, or fabric. The sublimation name was first applied because the dye was considere ...
s. The company has placed over 100,000 Picture Kiosks in retail locations worldwide. Employing similar technology, Kodak also offers larger printing systems with additional capabilities including duplex greeting cards, large format poster printers, photobooks and calendars under the brand name "APEX".
Photography On Demand
After two years in development, Kodak launched its on-demand photography service platform, Kodakit, offering one tap photography service in 92 cities, 37 countries in early 2016. The launch was formally announced in January 2017 at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Kodakit initially targeted consumers looking for wedding and portrait photography, but soon shifted towards businesses seeking high volume photography – real estate, food photography, and head shots. Having failed to generate enough traction to justify its existence and facing competition from fast growing startups like Meero and Splento, the Singapore-based subsidiary announced that it will be shutting down the operations.
Operations
Subsidiaries
*Kodak Limited (UK)
**the company's sales and marketing headquarters are located in Watford, UK, with Kodak Alaris operating in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
**manufacturing facilities used to be sited at Harrow in north-west London (Kodak Harrow
The Kodak Works, Harrow was a photographic manufacturing plant and research and development centre on Headstone Drive, Harrow, North West London. Built by the American Kodak company in 1890, it was their largest factory in the United Kingdom and ...
, closed in 2016), Morley Morley may refer to:
Places England
* Morley, Norfolk, a civil parish
* Morley, Derbyshire, a civil parish
* Morley, Cheshire, a village
* Morley, County Durham, a village
* Morley, West Yorkshire, a suburban town of Leeds and civil parish
* M ...
in Leeds (closed in 2014), Kirkby
Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...
near Liverpool (closed in 2007), Annesley
Annesley is a village and civil parish in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, between Hucknall and Kirkby-in-Ashfield. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,162 (including Annesley Woodhouse to the west).
Annesley Hall ...
in Nottinghamshire (closed in 2005) which is now home to Sherwood Business Park.
*FPC, Inc.
**FPC, US/Canada
**FPC Italy
*Kodak Graphic Communications Group (Kodak Israel)
Kodak Research Laboratories
The Kodak Research Laboratories were founded in 1912 with Kenneth Mees
Charles Edward Kenneth Mees FRS (26 May 1882 – 15 August 1960) was a British scientist and photographic researcher.
Early life and education
Mees was born in Wellingborough, England, the son of a Wesleyan minister.
He attended the Univ ...
as the first director. Principal components of the Kodak Research Laboratories were the ''Photographic Research Laboratories'' and then the ''Imaging Research Laboratories''. Additional organizations included the ''Corporate Research Laboratories''. Over nearly a century, scientists at these laboratories produced thousands of patents and scientific publications.
Notable people
Leadership
Board of directors
As of July 2022:
* James Continenza, chairman and CEO of Kodak
* B. Thomas Golisano
Blase Thomas Golisano (born November 14, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist.
He is the founder of Paychex, which offers payroll and human resources services to businesses. Golisano owned Greenlight Networks, a fiber i ...
, founder and former president of Paychex
Paychex, Inc. is an American provider of human resource, payroll, and benefits outsourcing services for small- to medium-sized businesses. With headquarters in Rochester, New York, the company has more than 100 offices serving approximately 6 ...
* Philippe Katz, UECC executive
* Katherine B. Lynch, former COO of UBS
UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...
* Jason New, co-CEO of Onex Credit
* Darren L. Richman, co-founder of KLIM investment group
* Michael E. Selick, Jr., president of SeaAgri Solutions
Scientists
* Bryce Bayer
Bryce Edward Bayer (/ˈbaɪər/; pronounced BYE-er, August 15, 1929 – November 13, 2012) was an American scientist who invented the Bayer filter, which is used in most modern digital cameras. He has been called "the maestro without whom photogra ...
, color scientist (1929–2012)
* Harry Coover
Harry Wesley Coover Jr. (March 6, 1917 – March 26, 2011) was the inventor of Eastman 910, commonly known as Super Glue.
Life and career
Coover was born in Newark, Delaware. He lived in Delaware until his teen years. During this time he was hit ...
, polymer chemist (1917–2011)
* F. J. Duarte
Francisco Javier "Frank" Duarte (born c. 1954) is a laser physicist and author/editor of several books on tunable lasers.
His research on physical optics and laser development has won several awards, including an Engineering Excellence Award in ...
, laser physicist and author (left in 2006)
* Loyd A. Jones
Loyd Ancile Jones (April 12, 1884 – May 15, 1954) was an American scientist who worked for Eastman Kodak Company, where he was head of its physics department for many years. During World War I, he was also a major contributor to the development ...
, camouflage physicist (1884–1954)
* Maurice Loyal Huggins Maurice Loyal Huggins (19 September 1897, Berkeley County, West Virginia – 17 December 1981) was a scientist who independently conceived the idea of hydrogen bonding and who was an early advocate for their role in stabilizing protein secondary st ...
, polymer scientist (1897–1981)
* Rudolf Kingslake
Rudolf Kingslake (born Rudolf Klickmann; August 28, 1903 – February 28, 2003)http://www.osa-opn.org/Content/ViewFile.aspx?id=2425 was an English academic, lens designer, and engineer.
Kingslake was born in London, England in 1903 as Rudolf ...
, optical designer (1903–2003)
* David MacAdam
David Lewis MacAdam (July 1, 1910 – March 9, 1998) was an American physicist and color scientist who made important contributions to color science and technology in the fields of colorimetry, color discrimination, color photography and televisi ...
, color scientist (1910–1998)
* Kenneth Mees
Charles Edward Kenneth Mees FRS (26 May 1882 – 15 August 1960) was a British scientist and photographic researcher.
Early life and education
Mees was born in Wellingborough, England, the son of a Wesleyan minister.
He attended the Univ ...
, film scientist and founder of the research laboratories (1882–1960)
* Perley G. Nutting
Perley Gilman Nutting (1873–1949) was an American optical physicist and the founder of the Optical Society of America (OSA). He served as its first president from 1916 to 1917. OSA is now known as Optica.
Born August 22, 1873, in Randolph, Wi ...
, physicist and founder of OSA (1873–1949)
* Steven Sasson
Steven J. Sasson (born July 4, 1950) is an American electrical engineer and the inventor of the ''self-contained'' (portable) digital camera. Sasson is a 1972 (BS) and 1973 (MS) graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in electrical engineering ...
, electrical engineer
* Ludwik Silberstein
Ludwik Silberstein (1872 – 1948) was a Polish-American physicist who helped make special relativity and general relativity staples of university coursework. His textbook '' The Theory of Relativity'' was published by Macmillan in 1914 with a sec ...
, physicist (1872–1948)
* Steven Van Slyke
Steven Van Slyke (born July 19, 1956) is an American chemist, best known for his co-invention of the Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) and his contributions to the commercial development of OLED displays. Van Slyke is currently the Chief Techn ...
, OLED scientist (left in 2010)
* Warren J. Smith
Warren J. Smith (1922-2008) was president of the Optical Society of America in 1980.
Warren Smith is world-renowned in the optics community as author of two editions of ''Modern Optical Engineering - The Design of Optical Systems'', ''Modern Lens ...
, optical engineer (1922–2008)
* Ching W. Tang
Ching Wan Tang (; born July 23, 1947) is a Hong Kong–American physical chemist. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2018 for inventing OLED (together with Steven Van Slyke), and was awarded the 2011 Wolf Prize in Chemi ...
, OLED scientist (left in 2006)
* John Texter
John Texter (born August 9, 1949, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania) is an American engineer, chemist, and educator. He is professor emeritus of polymer and coating technology at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and managing c ...
, physical chemist and materials scientist (1978-1998)
* Arthur Widmer
Arthur Widmer (July 25, 1914 in Washington, D.C. – May 28, 2006 in Los Angeles, California) was an American film special effects pioneer. He invented the "Ultra Violet Traveling matte process", an early version of what would become known as blu ...
, Special Effects Film Pioneer and receiver of an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...
Award of Commendation (1914–2006)
Photographers
*Jeannette Klute
Jeannette Klute (1918 – 2009) was an American photographer who helped develop the Dye-transfer process at the Eastman Kodak Company and is credited with demonstrating the artistic possibilities of color photography. Klute also paved the way ...
, research photographer (1918–2009)
Archive donation
In 2005, Kodak Canada donated its entire historic company archives to Ryerson University
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...
in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Ryerson University Library
Toronto Metropolitan University Library is the library of Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Canada. The library collection consists of over 500,000 books, and over CAD$3 million is spent annually to acquire electronic resources, includ ...
also acquired an extensive collection of materials on the history of photography from the private collection of Nicholas M. and Marilyn A. Graver of Rochester, New York. The Kodak Archives, begun in 1909, contain the company's Camera Collection, historic photos, files, trade circulars, Kodak magazines, price lists, daily record books, equipment, and other ephemera. It includes the contents of the Kodak Heritage Collection Museum, a museum established in 1999 for Kodak Canada's centennial that Kodak closed in 2005 along with the company's entire "Kodak Heights
Kodak Mount Dennis Campus, also known as Kodak Heights, was an industrial park in the Mount Dennis neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was owned and operated by the Eastman Kodak Company as a major camera manufacturing factory since it ...
" manufacturing campus in Mount Dennis
Mount Dennis is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is within the former suburb of York, now Ward 11 in Toronto. Primarily located along Eglinton Avenue between the Humber River and the Kitchener commuter rail line, the neighbourhoo ...
, Toronto.
Departure from Better Business Bureau
On March 26, 2007, the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) announced that Eastman Kodak was resigning its national membership in the wake of expulsion proceedings initiated by the CBBB board of directors.
In 2006, Kodak notified the BBB of Upstate New York that it would no longer accept or respond to consumer complaints submitted by them. In prior years, Kodak responded by offering consumers an adjustment or an explanation of the company's position. The BBB file contains consumer complaints of problems with repairs of Kodak digital cameras, as well as difficulty communicating with Kodak customer service. Among other complaints, consumers say that their cameras broke and they were charged for repairs when the failure was not the result of any damage or abuse. Some say their cameras failed again after being repaired.
Kodak said its customer service and customer privacy teams concluded that 99% of all complaints forwarded by the BBB already were handled directly with the customer. Brian O’Connor, Kodak chief privacy officer, said the company was surprised by the news release distributed by the Better Business Bureau:
Xinjiang Social Media Post
In July 2021, Kodak removed a post on Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
from its Instagram page. The photo was taken by the photographer Patrick Wack who describes the region as an "Orwellian dystopia" in a reference to the Uyghur genocide
The Chinese government has committed a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang that is often characterized as genocide. Since 2014, the Chinese government, under the a ...
. In later statements on Instagram and WeChat, Kodak declared its Instagram page was not a "platform for political commentary" and affirmed their "close cooperation with various hinesegovernment departments".
See also
*Eastman Business Park
Eastman Business Park, formerly Kodak Park, is a large manufacturing and industrial complex in the city of Rochester, New York, in the United States. The complex is run by Eastman Kodak and is located north of downtown Rochester and south of L ...
, formerly Kodak Park
*Kodak Vision Award
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
*List of products manufactured by Kodak
The following is a partial list of products manufactured by Kodak.
For a list of Kodak motion picture film stocks, see List of motion picture film stocks.
Consumer computer printers
Kodak has produced a range of Computer printers, concentr ...
References
Bibliography
*Ackerman, Carl William, ''George Eastman: founder of Kodak and the photography business'', Beard Books, Washington, DC, 2000.
*Binant, Philippe, ''Au coeur de la projection numérique'', Actions, 29, 12–13, Kodak, Paris, 2007.
External links
*
Kodak – consumer website
Kodak – corporate website
*Subsidiaries:
Kodak Limited (UK)
FPC, Inc.
Kodak Alaris website
Kodak Camera Catalog Info at Historic Camera
Kodak
at the Internet Movie Database
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
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Academy Award for Technical Achievement winners
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