Kara Visits Kodak, Part 1
by Kara Swisher
Posted on December 20, 2007 at 2:12 AM PT
So I took a trip up to Rochester, N.Y., over the summer to visit Kodak, the once powerful film giant, which has been struggling in recent years to make the difficult transition from film to digital.
I made a few videos there and then neglected to post them in the rush of other breaking news.
But this glimpse at the declining city Kodak once ruled, along with an interview with Philip Faraci, who was recently named President and COO for all of Eastman Kodak, is illuminating as the company tries to transform itself drastically. (In a side note, Faraci previously worked at Hewlett-Packard for a little more than two decades.)
Here is the first video with Faraci:
That’s a lot harder when you are talking about a business with such a massive legacy as Kodak has carried, even though it was once considered to be the tech marvel of the day. That’s especially true when it is compared to its current competitors, the shape-shifting digital entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley.
Under current CEO Antonio Perez (also a former H-P exec), whom I interviewed at D4 in 2005, Kodak has been trying to dig itself out of a hole and into consistent profitability. (Full disclosure: Kodak has been a regular sponsor of the D: All Things Digital conference that I run with Walt Mossberg.)
That shift has obviously been painful, including huge cuts in its employee base, due to the sharp decline of its market might. Since 2004, Kodak has cut its employee head count from about 64,000 to 30,600 as it has undergone a massive restructuring.
Things are looking up, though. In its most recent quarter, reported in early November, Kodak had a profit on a small sales decline. Its digital sales, from products like inkjet printers and digital cameras, rose to $1.59 billion, up 12%, and represented 60% of revenue. Film-based revenue was down 16%, to $698 million.
Whatever happens, Kodak is an interesting tech turnaround to watch.
(Here is my second Kodak video.)
Follow Kara on Twitter | Follow AllThingsD on Twitter
Comments
My wife and I moved from 35mm film with a mid-ranged SLR camera to all digital imaging back when 640 x 480 was considered a big deal. In the years since, we’ve had digital cameras from Polaroid, Epson, Nikon, Sony, HP, Dell, Samsung, & Kodak. Through-out, Kodak has consistently delivered the best image quality and our most durable cameras.
Sure would be nice if Kara would apply a bit of post production work to fix sound issues!
Posted by Steve Kezop at December 20th, 2007 at 7:01 amI know Steve, but I promise to improve on the video issue!
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 20th, 2007 at 12:53 pmThis is really depressing. I remember growing up I always wanted to get into industrial design so I could design cameras for Kodak. But with they way things are going, I’m not sure if that would be a very prudent career path.
I still would love to work for them, but Kodak jobs in Rochester are pretty thin. And it certainly doesn’t look like there wont be many more opening up soon.
Posted by Frederick Nordstrom at June 13th, 2008 at 1:37 am