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Kodak, the 131-year-old photography pioneer, filed for bankruptcy on January 19th 2012.Eastman Kodak announced early this morning that filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy was “the right thing to do for the future” of the company.In a statement, Kodak CEO Antonio Perez said company leadership decided the move was “a necessary step.”Innovation Trail has followed the story over the course of 2012.

Kodak reduces loss in latest quarter; revenues down

Eastman Kodak Co.

Kodak is reporting a first quarter that showed some overall improvement, but also a reduction in revenues.

The company saw a net loss of  $18 million, compared to a loss of  $58 million a year ago.

 

Revenues overall were down 12 percent,  totaling $362 million. Kodak says the drop was due in part to the continued decline of products it's no longer making, including consumer inket printers.

CEO Jeff Clarke says the company is making solid progress in its transition.

“The first-quarter performance represents an improving quality of earnings offsetting the reduction in profit in the consumer inkjet business,” he said on an investors' conference call.

At Brighton Securities, George Conboy says there are some positives, but he describes the results as a mild improvement over a year ago.

“The increases at Kodak are happening in businesses that are comparatively small, so even though they’re up, they don’t bring in enough actual dollars to offset the declines in some of the legacy film businesses,” Conboy told WXXI News.

Kodak says it remains committed to selling its commercial inkjet business called PROSPER, and Clarke indicated interest in that business remains strong, but no details were released on any prospective buyers.

Kodak also continues to look at ways of reducing costs, with officials noting that worldwide employment was reduced 10 percent compared to a year ago.    

Kodak has been employing just under 2,000 or so employees in the Rochester area, and has about 6,200 staffers worldwide.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's firector of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.