Kodak keep on developing

How Did Kodak Do It?

In 1999, US imaging and photographic equipment giant Kodak's photographic film sales stood at little over $5 billion. The company was floundering and in danger of vanishing from the market as it struggled to keep pace with the emerging digital scene.

However, by 2008 film sales stood at $200 billion as CEO Antonio Perez succeeded in putting the stoppers on quarter after quarter of losses.

Difficult decisions had to be made as the company underwent some serious streamlining. The 129-year-old Rochester-based company pared its payroll from 64,000 to 26,900 from 2004 to 2007. It eliminated another 4,100 jobs last year, shrinking its work force to a 1930s-era low of 20,300 from a 1988 peak of 145,300.

Kodak have become an exciting digital tech star after being hounded for years by the rapidly disappearing traditional film business. Then growth in Kodak's digital plays, including sales of cameras, online prints, and digital snapshot-producing kiosks, came to the rescue.

By the time of the global financial meltdown the company had signed in a number of lucrative licensing deals with some big names and intellectual property rights helped to keep things ticking over (and with even more patents owned today this will only continue - On average, it expects to generate $250 million to $350 million annually through 2011 in licensing fees and royalties from its intellectual property).

But the recession hurt Kodak and they returned to times of profit hunting with little gain.

Progress interrupted

However, at the start of this year it was announced Kodak posted profits of $443 million in 2009's Q4. The company broke a series of four straight quarterly losses and sent its share price soaring, indicating that the companies second-coming - that was so rudely interrupted by the global economic crisis - may be gathering momentum once again.

"I'm very pleased ... with the positive momentum with which we're entering 2010," Perez said.

However the company's vision remain long-term in nature, and still may not produce a profit in 2010. Kodak said it expects to post results this year that range from a loss from continuing operations of $50 million to a profit of $50 million.

Kodak said it sees revenue for its traditional segment, which includes film, paper and movies, falling 14 percent to 18 percent in 2010 after falling 24 percent in 2009.

Beyond 2010 the outlook looks positive for Kodak and with Perez at the helm the company seem to be in good hands.

How Kodak got back on track has become the stuff of legend, and Jeffrey Hayzlett, the company's Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President, puts himself on the line to promote it.

See the whole interview at MeetTheBoss.tv

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Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

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