Kodak Says Reports of Its Imminent Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated

Fears have swirled that Kodak, one of the last large film companies in the world, may soon be shutting its doors. Those fears were spurred by a regulatory filing released Monday, in which the company spoke of its debt load and a lack of liquidity to pay it off. However, the company has since emerged to deny that it will be shutting down anytime soon.

“Media reports that Kodak is ceasing operations, going out of business, or filing for bankruptcy are inaccurate and reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of a recent technical disclosure the Company made to the SEC in its recently filed second quarter earnings report,” the company said in a press release published Thursday. “These articles are misleading and missing critical context, and we’d like to set the record straight.”

Monday’s disclosure said that the company had “debt coming due within twelve months” and that it did not “have committed financing or available liquidity to meet such debt obligations if they were to become due in accordance with their current terms.” That debt payoff includes some $477 million in term debt, as well as $100 million of preferred stock outstanding, the company said.

The company’s plan to pay off that debt partially involves selling off its employees’ pension plans. Democrat and Chronicle reports that, last November, the company announced a plan to sell $764.4 million in assets from its pension system. Some 35,000 employees receive a pension from the company, the Wall Street Journal reports. The sale could lead to a “cash gain of as much as $585 million that Kodak would use to reduce debt and invest in its business,” according to the Journal.

In its update on Thursday, the company said: “Kodak has been preparing for the pension plan termination for some time and expects to receive approximately $500 million of assets – after meeting our obligations to all pension fund participants – in December 2025 when the transaction closes. Approximately $300 million of the funds are expected to be cash, and approximately $200 million are expected to be investment assets that will be converted into cash.”

The company further explained its plans thusly: “Kodak is required by its loan documents to use the $300 million of cash expected to be received in December to repay term debt. Kodak can then address the remaining $177 million of term debt and $100 million of preferred stock.”

Kodak now says that it is “confident it will repay, extend, or refinance its debt and preferred stock on, or before, its due date.” It also called the recent regulatory filing a “technical report that is required by accounting rules,” and said it has “no plans to cease operations, go out of business, or file for bankruptcy protection.” Gizmodo reached out to Kodak for more information.

Film buffs have expressed concerns over Kodak’s struggles, since the company is one of the largest contemporary providers of film stock to the motion picture industry. The company also still sells an assortment of cameras and provides services for digital, as well.