Kodak’s corporate doom: 133-year-old photo icon warns investors it may cease operations with $500 million debt problem

In a quarterly filing released Monday alongside its second-quarter earnings report, Kodak’s management raised serious concerns about its ability to continue operating over the next year. The warning stems from roughly $500 million in debt maturing within 12 months and the lack of committed financing to cover those obligations. Without new funding or successful refinancing, the company could default, they said. 

The note’s stark language sent Kodak’s shares tumbling, sliding 21% to $5.43 as of Wednesday morning. 

Deep strains in earnings

For the second quarter ended June 30, Kodak booked $263 million in revenue, which was down 1% from a year earlier. However, the real blow came from the bottom line: Profitability took a sharp hit compared to last quarter, with gross profit sinking 12% to $51 million, squeezing Kodak’s margins from 22% to 19%. What had been a $26 million profit in the same period last year flipped 180 degrees to a $26 million loss. Operational EBITDA slipped to $9 million from $12 million, as significantly lower sales volumes and surging manufacturing costs overwhelmed relatively modest price increases.

Cash reserves also slimmed down. Kodak ended the quarter with $155 million on hand, just $70 million of it in the U.S. That’s $46 million less than it had in December, drained by rising costs, and weaker operating results.

Chief financial officer David Bullwinkle said in the note the company is counting on a somewhat random source of liquidity: terminating its U.S. Kodak Retirement Income Plan and using excess assets to pay down debt. Kodak said it expects clarity by mid-August on how it will settle obligations to plan participants, and aims to complete the process by December.

Dave Zhang, a printing industry expert from analyst group WhatTheyThink, said Kodak’s pain isn’t unique.

“Every major equipment manufacturer in commercial printing is feeling the same squeeze this year, in the U.S. and in Europe,” Zhang told Fortune. “Customers are holding back on big buys unless they absolutely have to. Tariffs and economic uncertainty aren’t giving them the warm-and-fuzzy to invest.”

Kodak’s long fall

Founded by George Eastman in the late 19th century, Kodak revolutionized photography by democratizing film, making cameras affordable for the masses. Its slogan—“You push the button, we do the rest”—became synonymous with convenient sentimentality. At its peak in the 1970s, Kodak controlled nearly 90% of U.S. film sales and 85% of the camera market. 

Then the digital revolution upended the industry, and Kodak stumbled. In a twist of irony, it was a Kodak engineer who created the first digital camera—but, fearing the innovation would cannibalize their current product, the company sat on the invention. They bet on film being a source of nostalgia, even as digital cameras took over the market with a promise of even more convenience. 

By 2012, saddled with billions in debt, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. However, Zhang traced the decay back even earlier, to the mid-2000s, when then-CEO Antonio Pérez “basically decimated” Kodak’s chemical and film manufacturing—“the company’s roots”—laying off tens of thousands and selling off or destroying key facilities.

“Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater,” Zhang warned. “They blew their future.”

When current CEO Jim Continenza took over, his job was to steer Kodak out of bankruptcy and rebuild its core.

“It’s not just about nostalgia film,” the analyst said. “They’ve had to rebuild a film line from scratch—equipment you can’t just order on Amazon—and now they’re at full manufacturing capacity.”

Kodak’s film output today includes industrial products like films for automotive components, not just 35mm rolls.

Additionally, Kodak shifted from its consumer camera business to focus on commercial printing, packaging, and specialty chemicals. 

In recent years, it has sought growth in advanced materials, including film for the movie industry and components for pharmaceuticals. In fact, the pharmaceutical pivot was so successful that the day Kodak secured a government loan to pursue manufacturing, their stock soared so quickly it broke circuit breakers. 

Kodak has also leaned into nostalgia with hundreds of brick-and-mortar retail stores, which are particularly popular internationally. Despite the brand’s trendiness, Timothy Calkins, a marketing professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, told The New York Times he found the trademark licensing “striking’” and “sad,” suggesting a sense of desperation in the Kodak brand.

An uncertain path forward

Kodak does have one bright spot from its second-quarter earnings: its Advanced Materials & Chemicals division saw revenue grow, and  the company also recently secured FDA registration for a new pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, allowing it to produce regulated products. 

CEO Jim Continenza framed the development as part of Kodak’s transformation into a manufacturer with diversified products. 

“We continue to accelerate the growth of our Advanced Materials & Chemicals business,” he wrote in the earnings release, adding that U.S. manufacturing capacity could help shield Kodak from potential tariff shocks.

The question is whether that shield will be strong enough. The going-concern disclosure, near the end of the earnings report, makes clear that Kodak’s plans to right the ship—pension reversion, debt restructuring, and refinancing—are not entirely within its control. U.S. accounting rules require such a warning when management cannot conclude those steps are “probable.”

“They need time and money,” Zhang said. “Time is hard to get, but if they can get the money, they might just rebuild this thing.”

For now, investors are wondering if the company can improbably reinvent itself for the second, third, or fourth time, or if this is the long-awaited fade-out of a company that once defined how the world captured its memories.