14 DAY TRIAL // The first glimmer of hope in a long time has shown itself to Kodak in the form of an approval to borrow close to $1 billion in bankruptcy financing.
Kodak filed for bankruptcy around this time last month (January, 2012), when it became obvious that it had not done a good enough job of keeping up with the changes on the camera market.
Basically, it did not get on board of the digital camera wagon when it started rolling its wheels, so it got left behind by miles.
As such, where there once was a brand name and company that spearheaded the photo and video camera market, there is now a troubled business that has filed for bankruptcy.
In fact, things are bad enough that Kodak has taken to suing other IT players over patent infringement in the hopes of raising revenue via settlements. Most notably, Apple and Samsung have become targets.
Now, a new announcement has revealed that, at the very least, Kodak's bankruptcy loan request has been approved, meaning that the company can take out $950 million from the bank.
With this money, it intends to reform and regain its foothold by 2013.
“Today's agreement is another step towards ensuring that Kodak is positioned to execute on the goals the Company set out last month: Bolster our liquidity in the U.S. and abroad, monetize our non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable Kodak to focus on its most valuable business lines,” says CEO and Chairman Antonio M. Perez.
It is hard to tell what step Kodak will take next even if it does make the best of this latest funding. After all, it doesn't really have many consumer products left.
Also, it has decided to back out of the camera market entirely and it even sold its image sensor business last year.
Finally, Kodak has been given permission to stop sponsoring the Los Angeles theater (Kodak Theater) that hosts the Academy Awards.