Tweets from the Court
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge approved Eastman Kodak Co.’s reorganization plan, clearing the way for the Rochester-based company to exit bankruptcy.
Judge Allan L. Gropper pushed aside objections from shareholders, who stand to lose in the deal, and said, “Let’s hope (Kodak) will be successful.”
Kodak declared bankruptcy 19 days into 2012 with sales down 16 percent to $6 billion and the flow of money from intellectual property licensing agreements drying up. Years of restructuring, the recession and subsequent tepid recovery, and the $100 million-plus spent every year on U.S. retirees’ health benefits, also left the company burning through its cash.
During bankruptcy Kodak cut its corporate spending by 26 percent, eliminated more than 600 manufacturing, supply chain and product engineering positions, and reduced its global real estate footprint by 30 percent. At the same time, the company said it continued to streamline its business to focus strictly on the most profitable opportunities, getting rid of its Kodak Gallery business and its desktop inkjet printer line.
Slews of objections arose on different aspects of the company’s emergence plan, with those objections coming from a U.S. Trustee overseeing the bankruptcy, retirees and roughly 200 objections filed by individuals, most of them stockholders who will see their shares made worthless paper by Kodak’s reorganization plan.
On Tuesday, Judge Gropper called Kodak’s bankruptcy, “A tragedy of American economic life,” adding that company will “hopefully regain its position in the pantheon of American business.”
Check back later for updates.
Democrat & Chronicle
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