'Kodak moment': Will nostalgia for film be enough to save Kodak?

Kodak, once the world’s most recognizable film and camera maker, achieved dizzying success but failed to anticipate the impact of the digital age. Today, analysts cite Kodak as a cautionary tale, while the media uses its former slogan, “Kodak moment,” to describe missed opportunities, when a major corporation could not adapt its business model to new technologies and slid into losses.

Even so, Kodak’s business persists and has enjoyed a revival amid Gen Z’s interest in film photography. Yet the company, now bankrupt and valued at less than $500 million, again faces the prospect of a crisis as losses mount and debt repayments loom.

Kodak, founded in the state of New York in the late 19th century, built its business on making photography more accessible to consumers. Its founder, George Eastman, was passionate about photography, and in 1888 he received a patent for the first hand-held roll-film camera for amateurs. For $25 – about $68.30 in today’s money – customers received a camera loaded with 100 exposures. Once the film was used up, the customer would send the camera back to Kodak, which developed the pictures and reloaded the camera with fresh film for an additional $10. “You press the button, we do the rest" was Eastman's slogan.

Kodak’s core source of income was the production of film and chemicals, along with developing and printing services. Eastman focused heavily on film – securing multiple patents and investing in the development of color photography. The company’s capital intensity was so great that Eastman introduced employee benefits and even one of the first profit-sharing programs: if dividends on company stock exceeded 10%, employees received 35% of the excess.

The company began to struggle during the Great Depression. Eastman stepped down a few years before his death, and frequent CEO turnover followed.

After the U.S. entered World War II, Kodak halted production of amateur film and shifted to military contracts. It produced film, cameras, microfilm, pontoons, synthetic fibers, hexogen, time-controlled fuses, and even hand grenades during the war. Kodak chemists and engineers also contributed to the U.S. nuclear weapons program.

The golden age of Kodak came in the post-war era: Kodak cornered the mass market again in the 1960s with the Instamatic. Using the new cartridge film which dropped into the camera without the need to attach to a reel, it was a huge hit. In 1976, the company sold 90% of the photographic film in the U.S. along with 85% of the cameras, the BBC points out.  

In the 1970s, Kodak engineer Steven Sasson built the first prototype of a digital camera. The management, however, showed little interest, refusing to pursue the technology for fear of undermining the company’s lucrative film business. Kodak executives were convinced digital cameras would not gain traction for many years. This allowed peers like Sony, Canon, Panasonic, Konica, Nikon, and Philips to take the lead in digital photography. The first fully digital camera to reach the market ultimately came from Kodak’s main peer in traditional film, Fujifilm Holdings.

Although the technology did not catch on immediately, analysts felt the company's failure to capitalize on this was the start of its decline, the BBC wrote.

Former Kodak vice president Don Strickland claims he left the company in 1993 after he failed to get backing from within the company to release a digital camera. He said: "we developed the world's first consumer digital camera but we could not get approval to launch or sell it because of fear of the effects on the film market... a huge opportunity missed."

With the spread of the internet in the U.S., digital camera sales surged while demand for film steadily declined. By 2000, analysts were already declaring the end of the film-camera era. Yet Kodak was still thriving: that year proved to be the most profitable in its history, with net income of $1.4 billion on revenue of $14.0 billion.

By 2006, digital cameras already dominated the market. In addition, by then most cell phones already came with cameras, which was another blow to Kodak's business. Kodak thought it was competing with Canon and Nikon, but Apple, Samsung, and Alphabet ended up beating all three. This was the beginning of the end for Kodak, Barron's writes.  Kodak underwent a bankruptcy restructuring in 2012. The stock that had been a foundation of investment portfolios for decades became worthless. Its revenue dropped 90% from 2007 to 2024.

A year later, in 2013, Kodak received court approval for its bankruptcy exit plan to focus mainly on commercial products such as high-speed digital printing technology and flexible packaging for consumer goods.

After bankruptcy proceedings, the business has struggled to find its footing. The company's unusual decisions include the release of Kodak cell phones and tablets, and in 2018, the launch of the digital currency KodakCoin, which the company envisioned could help photographers license their work and track the use of images without permission. The coronavirus outbreak allowed Kodak to dabble again in chemistry. In March 2020, Kodak said it would supply isopropyl alcohol to New York state to make hand sanitizer.

In late July 2020, the WSJ wrote that Kodak could start manufacturing pharmaceuticals and generic drugs. The loan was the first of its kind under the Defense Production Act, which had previously been invoked to speed the production of Covid-19 related supplies such as ventilators. On July 27, a day before Kodak and President Trump announced the deal, shares of the film pioneer soared nearly 25% with trading volumes far exceeding those in previous sessions.   

The U.S. SEC launched an investigation, suspecting insider trading around the announcement. Kodak never received the loan, it was discovered, and a federal agency found no wrongdoing concerning the stalled loan.

Kodak is still trying to develop its pharma business: in the financials for the second quarter of 2025, the head of the company said that Kodak's pharmaceutical production facility is now registered with the FDA and certified to manufacture and sell regulated pharmaceutical products. It will begin manufacturing phosphate buffered saline (PBS) for laboratory use and create a bridge to manufacturing more sophisticated specialty products, such as injectable IV saline, in the future.

In 2020, film photography returned to the spotlight – niche photographers posting exclusively with film equipment began uploading vlogs to YouTube, while media outlets highlighted the revival of the “old new” trend. Today, Instagram hosts more than 27 million posts with the hashtag #filmisnotdead, where users share film photos, camera purchases, and experiments with the medium.

Former Kodak CEO Ed Hurley told NBC News that Kodak produced twice as many film cassettes in 2019 as it did in 2015, without specifying the exact figure.

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global cinema camera market size is fast growing and estimated to reach $535 million by 2032. "Analog wellness," including predigital experiences, is one of the top trends for 2025, according to the Global Wellness Summit trends report for 2025. Last year, current Kodak CEO Jim Continenza said the company was experiencing such high demand for film that it needed to upgrade its Rochester factory.

For the second quarter, Kodak posted a net loss of $26 million, compared with net income of $26 million a year earlier – a 200% swing. Revenue slipped 1% year over year to $263 million, while gross profit fell 12% to $51 million. The company, which carries multi-million-dollar debt, attributed the results to the “challenges of an uncertain business environment,” while noting that tariffs had little impact on its operations.

In addition, Kodak said "these conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern." A day later, a Kodak a spokesperson said that the language was a required disclosure because Kodak’s debt comes due within 12 months of the filing, MarketWatch wrote.  

To fund the repayment, it plans to draw on the about $300 million in cash it expects to receive from a pension plan reversion and settlement in December.

“Kodak is confident it will be able to pay off a significant portion of its term loan well before it becomes due,” and amend, extend, or refinance its remaining securities obligations, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, in the second quarter of 2025, Print, Kodak's largest segment still, reported revenue of $178 million – down 5% year over year. The Advanced Materials & Chemicals segment had $75 million in revenue for a 3% rise.

Still, Kodak shares have fallen 13.5% in the last month, compared with a 2.6% rise by the S&P 500, "highlighting sustained investor concerns about the company’s outlook," Zacks Equity Research argues. The stock is off about 12% year to date but up about 10% over the last 12 months. On MarketWatch, the company has just one rating from a coverage analyst, who rates it a "hold" with a target price of $1 per share, implying about 85% downside versus current quotes.

Kodak’s main peer in the film market, Fujifilm, has staged a sharp turnaround by diversifying its business into biotech, health care, and cosmetics. In 2008, it acquired Toyama Chemical to enter the pharmaceutical sector and later expanded into radiopharmaceuticals. Fujifilm also launched cosmetics based on its expertise with collagen, a material it had used in 3D printing inks. While film accounted for 60% of sales and two thirds of profits in 2000, this division represented less than 16% of revenue by 2010. In the first quarter of 2025, Fujifilm’s revenue rose 4.5% year over year to JPY749.5 billion (about $5.1 billion), while operating profit jumped 35.1% to JPY75.3 billion (about $510 million).

Another of the world’s oldest photography companies, Nikon, successfully leaned into the digital trend. This week, its shares jumped more than 20% after Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that EssilorLuxottica – the maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses – is exploring a deal to up its stake in Nikon from 9% to 20%.

The AI translation of this story was reviewed by a human editor.