I must admit I am confused by Colleen's remarks and Kodak's announcement today. Kodak says they will try to sell off their "personalized imaging" solutions, which would, according to Colleen, include still film products.

However, as some of you might remember, earlier this year, the "pro photography" film products (B&W, Potra, Ektar) were relocated under the commercial (B2B) segment of Kodak together with motion picture film and are now listed under "Photo Specialty Products".

And if we read Kodak's press release from today carefully it appears that "commercial film" is one segment of their business they are NOT going to sell at the moment.

"Kodak noted that in addition to the commercial, packaging and functional printing and enterprise services businesses, it also continues to own and operate the Consumer Inkjet, Entertainment Imaging, Commercial Film and Specialty Chemicals businesses, given the company’s expertise, capabilities and strong customer relationships in these markets, as well as their combined cash-generating capability."

So it would be great if Colleen could clarify, if Kodak sell only their remaining consumer film business and keep the pro film business (pro still and motion film) or if they are getting rid of the still film business (pro&consumer) altogether.

Thanks,
John

I'd say this could be the best news from Kodak in a while, or maybe the worst. Sold to the right buyer, and freed from the goliath of the rest of the company could become profitable and productive. We always hear that the film division was profitable, it would be nice to see an independent Kodak Film Company reporting profits and not losses.

Kodak has been surprisingly pro-active with Ektar and the new Portra line, who knows what they may do next.

I think if this is handled correctly, it has the potential to be great news for film photographers.

Thanks for the update Colleen. It is good to have someone close to this to keep us updated. It's just sad that it appears Kodak has squandered good chances to do better. I understand film is not the profit maker it used to be, but there is still a market. Oh well. Thanks again.

Colleen's a straight shooter...

Joe - to clarify, all still film, including the professional films, falls within the Personalized Imaging category and it part of the business that Kodak is considering selling (I realize that the content on the website causes confusion). Commercial film will remain in the Kodak portfolio.

Looking into the chemistry question. Will get back to you.

Update: Photo Chemicals are included in a potential sale.

Show some respect. She was nice enough to come here, sign up, and offer to answer any questions. Perhaps the insider info Roger was referring to is that she is inside the company and not just some internet forum poster making assumptions based on a press release.

That was, indeed, exactly what I meant, though I could have phrased it better.

Cheers,

R.

Thanks for clarifying, I appreciate your input here.

Hmmmm...maybe they could sell their B &W paper coating machines to Efke ?

And could this mean that Kodachrome might be reborn from the ashes ?

As I understood it, Kodak said that Kodachrome was about 1% of their film business....now, to them that's not much volume,but for a smaller company,there could be enough volume to make money at it.

TG there is digital, Ilford and Fuji.

I just saw this story on the BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19366113

Thankfully this thread has stopped any knee jerk reaction from me so I won't be buying an industrial freezer and remortgaging my house to buy up the last remaining Portra ;-0

I just hope they can find an interested buyer.

Chris

Perhaps some moderation instead... if you are wedded to Portra (or even just really like it) you might want to buy a bunch anyway befroe the prices go wonky. Don't risk your life's savings or anything, but...

Any light that can be shed on this from the "inside" is important. Although I wonder if anyone at Kodak can really predict what direction the company will finally take?

It all feels so wrong currently. Kodak is really at a low point right now, but the spin off could succeed if the right company takes it over, I am at least marginally hopeful.

That's the problem for me. I absolutely love Portra and I shoot it in 35mm, 120 and 4x5. It's basically all I use for my personal work. I'm really short on all three formats but unfortunately I'm just so tight for money right now that I can't afford to buy any film so I'm afraid I'll just have to wait and hope that it will be made for some time to come.

My hope is that after reading this thread there is some assurance of continuity at least in the short term so no need to panic yet. I'm sure any future buyer will have a keen eye on the profitable bits and portra is very popular according to my non scientific ear to ground.

Chris

Me too. Best case would be someone like the Impossible Project guys. I don't like their instant film but they're certainly passionate. Keeping Kodak film alive seems like a much easier project than reinventing instant film so I'm optimistic. However, it might all boil down to how much Kodak will ask for it's film division.

I appreciate the information, and thank Colleen for starting the thread and answering questions.

Thanks for the clarification Roger...that make more sense.

Of course not. But I'd back informed (if necessarily hopeful) comment against uninformed (and often spiteful) comment any day.

Chheers,

R.

I have remained hopeful, even after betting Kodak would not go into bankruptcy and losing money in Feb. It just did not seem possible that Kodak stock would go below 82 cents, but yesterday it closed at 26 cents up 6% on news of the consumer film division being offered for sale.

Right now traders are the only ones making money on Kodak, the stock was only 14 cents on 06/11/12, so one could have doubled one's investment.

So (respectfully) anything you're telling us currently is at the whim of the people who are privy to this information and their decisions are the ones that really count.

Well of course, there is no way to expect anyone to read minds, but still this is good information, in the sense that information has a way of getting around companies, one has a sense of impending doom [sometimes].

But sadly you are right they will surprise us in the end.

Haha, fair enough.

I think it's safe to assume that someone who does PR for Kodak will not release any kind of confidential inside information. Otherwise she wouldn't be doing her job very well.