Rochester, NY -- There has been a lot of speculation to its future over the last several months as Kodak has not reported a strong financial picture for some time. According to reports the Wall Street Journal has predicted that the New York-based company may file for bankruptcy in the next few weeks.
Despite their best efforts, Kodak has not found a suitor interested in buying its 1,100 digital imaging patents. The sales of those patents could get Kodak somewhere between $2 to $3 billion USD. Complicating matters are ongoing legal disputes between Kodak and Research in Motion as well as Apple who Kodak has accused of infringing patents.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has also issued a warning to Kodak about becoming delisted for not maintaining a share price of over $1.00. Their common stock, symbol EK, has not closed at above a $1 since December 7. It closed January 5 at a very low $0.42 per share. To stay listed, Kodak must have either a closing price of over $1 on the last trading day of one of the next sixth months as well as have an average of price of at least $1 for the final 30 days of the six-month cycle. Their fourth quarter earnings call is schedule for January 26th. Early February is when the WSJ thinks the filing for bankruptcy could happen.
Kodak has not issued any statements regarding the WSJ predictions other than that they (Kodak) do not comment on speculation or rumor. Through all of their financial hardships, their CEO Antonio Perez has remained optimistic about the future of Kodak. While they have made considerable progress in the consumer printing arena, it does not appear at this point to have been enough to sustain them.
