145-year-old film company Kodak pushes back on reports it may shut down
The Eastman Kodak Company, the iconic printing and imaging company founded in 1880, is pushing back on reports that it may not be in business for that much longer.
In its second quarter financial report, released Monday and picked up by several media outlets, Kodak said there was "substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern" after 145 years.
The term "going concern" simply means that a business is expected to be able to fulfill all its financial obligations and continue operating as usual for the foreseeable future, or at least the next 12 months.
Kodak said in the report that its gross profit fell about 12%, or $7 million, declining from $58 million in the second quarter of 2024 to $51 million in the second quarter of 2025, and that it had upcoming debt obligations that need to be fulfilled within the next year.
However, in a statement to ABC News Wednesday, Kodak said it "is confident it will be able to pay off a significant portion of its term loan well before it becomes due, and amend, extend or refinance our remaining debt and/or preferred stock obligations."
As the Wall Street Journal reported in November 2024, Kodak is ending its retirement income or pension plan for former U.S. employees to help reduce its debt. After pensioners are paid out what they are owed, the remaining funds would be directed toward existing debt obligations.
In a statement included in Monday's second quarter financial report, Kodak CFO David Bullwinkle noted that the company expects to know by Friday, Aug. 15, "how we will satisfy our obligations to all [pension] plan participants, and we anticipate completing the reversion by December of 2025."
"For the second half of the year, we will continue to focus on reducing costs today and converting our investments into long-term growth," he added.
Kodak reaffirmed the move in its statement to ABC News on Wednesday.
"To fund the repayment, we plan to draw on the approximately $300 million in cash we expect to receive from the reversion and settlement of our U.S. pension fund (the Kodak Retirement Income Plan, or 'KRIP') in December," the company said, adding that "once the KRIP reversion is completed Kodak will be virtually net debt free and will have a stronger balance sheet than we have had in years."
For years, Kodak had enjoyed a storied history and was credited with various groundbreaking milestones, including the invention of the world's first digital camera in 1975, and for holding 79,000 worldwide patents.
In recent decades, the company has struggled to adapt to the shift from film to digital photography, filing for bankruptcy in 2012.
After reorganizing and coming back from bankruptcy, Kodak has focused more on its advanced materials and chemicals business, as well as manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.
