In the era of film camera popularity, Kodak was a household brand, after many years of wind and rain, Kodak also several times on the verge of bankruptcy and closure.
But in July of this year, Kodak ushered in their own "against all odds" opportunity. The United States in response to the new Crown pneumonia epidemic, the United States Government under the Defense Production Act and Kodak reached an agreement to Kodak to provide $ 765 million in loans, so that its production of generic drug ingredients.
Since the introduction of digital cameras, Kodak's value has declined and gradually faded from view. It is important to know that Kodak in 2000, was ranked among the leading film industry, occupying 63.1% of the Chinese market share. Almost every two boxes of film on the market, there is a box printed on the Kodak logo.
Kodak's defeat stems from the slow strategic transformation.
There was a netizen commented on Kodak: "Kodak until the day of bankruptcy, the production of film quality is very good, just the world no longer need it."
Indeed, Kodak was able to achieve such a high level of success, quality is a necessary condition. But with the rapid turnover of digital electronics, people's daily shooting needs have shifted more to their cell phones, and professional-grade shooting needs have evolved electronically. From the former black-and-white film demand a sharp decline, so that Kodak market value in a short period of time from the peak of 30 billion dollars down to 600 million.
When Kodak realized it had been left behind by the times, its own funds could no longer support it in its strategic transformation.
So Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and outsiders have rendered it as "the elephant has fallen". But people do not know that this is only Kodak transformation program of the ambush.
U.S. law in the bankruptcy protection and different from bankruptcy liquidation, the concept is when the debtor to the court after the bankruptcy reorganization application, the need to submit to the court specific bankruptcy reorganization program, and the preparation of the program the court will give a certain amount of time, and then after the adoption of creditors, the court confirms that the debtor can continue to operate.
Kodak in the law, through the sale of the company's business, the sale of patents, the initiation of patent litigation, as far as possible for their own reorganization opportunities.
After months of effort, in 2013, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court formally approved Kodak to complete its reorganization by raising $844 million from Middlebridge Capital. On September 4 of that year, Kodak completed its bankruptcy reorganization and resumed normal business operations.
The reopening of Kodak did not make a big impact on the market, but through the old business can barely support the operation of the enterprise, so the bland across the seven years.
As early as the 1990s, Kodak set up the "Eastman Pharmaceuticals" division, spending nearly $5.1 billion to buy the drugmaker Sterling Drug, which was mainly involved in the production of conventional drugs such as aspirin, but in 1994 the company sold the business module of the pharmaceuticals for $2.952 billion in a package deal to the Schmuck & Bisson, one of the predecessors of GlaxoSmithKline.
And industry analysis, Kodak was able to be selected by the U.S. government, more critical perhaps Kodak's own large industrial setup. Currently Kodak has 16 million square feet of manufacturing space, laboratories, warehouses and offices, and also includes 88 mass production reactors, on-site power plants and steam supplies.
Kodak CEO Jim Contini told the outside world: "Kodak's existing facilities will allow new business to start quickly, and pharmaceutical ingredient production will account for 30% to 40% of Kodak's business.
And in the face of the gap between Kodak itself and the pharmaceutical industry, Contini said: "We do film, has always been a chemicals company, has a long history in chemistry and advanced materials, well over 100 years. Technically, Kodak is not completely unrelated to pharmaceuticals."
For Kodak, after a long period of silence, the U.S. government support, the transition to the pharmaceutical industry is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but in the end, whether it can achieve in the field of pharmaceuticals and in the field of film the same results, I am afraid that even the Kandinis themselves do not know.
The U.S. government claims that the loan was provided in anticipation of reducing the external dependence on drug production and regaining control of the drug supply chain. White House advisor Peter Navarro said that this Kodak transition is a big step towards autonomous pharmaceuticals in the US.
Fuji, another giant that was once at war with Kodak, began to lay out a large number of medical fields in the 1990s, and currently its company has a medical imaging company, an antiviral drug manufacturing company, a biopharmaceutical company, and many other categories. In the 2019 financial report, Fuji's annual total revenue of $21.239 billion, $9.396 billion from the medical and health business income.
Fuji has stated to the public that the experience of producing imaging products is also applicable to the pharmaceutical sector, and has continued to emphasize the impact of its company's foundation in imaging on opening up the pharmaceutical sector.
Kodak, though also a former imaging giant, has not performed well over the years. The transformation in the field of digital electronics ended in failure, and the corporate management structure has frequent problems, only to rely on external financing to support. The U.S. government's policy and financial support, more like a short-term behavior, if the epidemic is over, the support weakened, Kodak can rely on their ability to rise again?
The film king to cross the border again in the pharmaceutical field, standing on the wind of the epidemic, Kodak is facing the future more like a storm.