Another Unwanted “Kodak Moment” for Kodak Eastman
Eastman Kodak — the 133-year-old brand that taught the world to “press the button” and let them do the rest — has warned investors that it may not be able to keep going as a standalone company.
In its Q2 filing and press release on August 11, 2025, Kodak said it lacks “committed financing or available liquidity” to cover roughly $500 million coming due, triggering the formal “substantial doubt” language accountants use when a company’s status as a going concern is in question.
Shares sank more than 20% on the news. Kodak says it’s working on solutions, including a planned reversion of excess assets from its U.S. pension plan to pay down debt, but notes those steps aren’t entirely in its control — which is why the warning had to be issued.
Under the hood, the latest quarter shows how tight things are: revenue of $263 million (down ~1% year-on-year), gross profit of $51 million (down 12%), a GAAP net loss of $26 million, and $155 million in cash at quarter-end.
Management says it expects clarity on pension-plan obligations by mid-August and is targeting completion of the pension reversion by December 2025. Still, because amendments and refinancings aren’t guaranteed, the “going concern” flag stays up.
Kodak has pushed back on “we’re closing tomorrow” headlines, stressing it’s pursuing ways to reduce or refinance obligations and keep operating — but the caution light is very much on.
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Kodak Q2 2025 at a Glance
Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: KODK) reported its results for the second quarter of 2025, showing softer sales and a sharper hit to profitability.
Consolidated revenue came in at $263 million, down $4 million (1%) from the second quarter of 2024.
Gross profit declined to $51 million from $58 million a year earlier, and gross margin eased to 19% from 22%, a drop of 3 percentage points. Operational EBITDA was $9 million, compared with $12 million in the prior-year quarter.
The company recorded a GAAP net loss of $26 million, a $52 million swing from net income of $26 million in Q2 2024. That’s less “Kodak moment,” more “Kodak moan.”
Kodak finished the quarter with $155 million in cash, down from $201 million at December 31, 2024. Cash flow from operations decreased by $40 million versus the prior-year period.
How we got here (and how Kodak got everywhere)
Kodak’s story starts in the 1880s with George Eastman and a radical simplification of photography.
In 1892, the firm was incorporated as Eastman Kodak Company, the corporate birthday journalists use when they call it “133-year-old” in 2025.
The magic formula was simple: make cameras cheap and easy, then sell the film and processing — an early razor-and-blades masterclass.
Through the 20th century Kodak became the default setting for memory-making.
It didn’t just dominate snapshots; its film base enabled Thomas Edison’s motion-picture camera, and its chemistry touched everything from hospitals to Hollywood.
Then came the digital wave.
Ironically, Kodak helped invent digital imaging — but not quickly enough to unlearn its film profits. The company filed Chapter 11 in 2012, sold patents, shed businesses, and re-emerged smaller, focused on printing, specialty materials and motion-picture film.
Today’s warning is the most serious wobble since that restructuring.
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The peril — and the path out
The immediate problem is mechanical: too little cash, too much coming due, and no fully locked-in refinancing yet. Management’s preferred route is to use cash reverting from the U.S. pension plan to knock down debt, then amend/extend the rest.
Because neither step is guaranteed, auditors can’t assume success — hence the warning. If it does land the pension reversion and refi, Kodak says the balance sheet could look far healthier; if it doesn’t, options narrow fast.
As for the brand’s long arc: Fujifilm reinvented itself into healthcare and materials with striking success; Kodak’s been trying a similar pivot with less torque. The romance of film still matters culturally, but romance alone doesn’t pay off term loans.
Milestones that made the Kodak brand
In a world before camera phones, Kodak was casual photography. A few waypoints:
- “You press the button, we do the rest.” The original Kodak camera and mail-in processing turned a technical craft into a mass pastime.
- Brownie (1900). A simple box camera that put photography in kids’ hands and cemented Kodak’s dominance.
- Kodachrome (1935). The color slide film that launched a thousand travel shows (and at least one Paul Simon lyric).
- Instamatic (1963). Cartridge-loading cameras that made point-and-shoot truly point-and-shoot.
- DCS 100 (1991). The first commercially available DSLR system, proof Kodak could do digital — even if it couldn’t pivot fast enough.
- 2012 bankruptcy / 2013 exit. The end of the old empire and the birth of a B2B-leaning Kodak.
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What Kodak actually sells now
If your mental image is disposable cameras at the chemist, update the picture. The post-bankruptcy Kodak makes most of its money in commercial print and advanced materials & chemicals, with a boutique but influential motion-picture film business.
- Print (Traditional + Digital). Think KODAK SONORA Ultra process-free offset plates (skip the darkroom chemistry), PROSPER high-speed inkjet presses, PRINERGY workflow software, and inks/primers. This is the core cash engine serving printers worldwide. Kodak
- Advanced Materials & Chemicals. Specialty chemicals, ESTAR-PET films, printed-circuit board films, functional coatings (even KODALUX light-controlling fabrics), solvent recovery services — and, increasingly, pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities. Kodak
- Motion-picture film. Yes, real film — and not just for nostalgia. Cannes line-ups still include productions shot on Kodak stock, and directors keep the medium alive for its look. Kodak
In Q2, Kodak said it has an FDA-registered cGMP facility now selling phosphate-buffered saline for labs, with ambitions to scale to injectable IV saline. That pharma angle is part of the “next Kodak” thesis — but it needs time and capital to mature, which is exactly what the balance sheet complicates.
Bottom line
A company that once defined how the world remembers may now be remembered for how hard it is to change. Still, if Kodak can turn that pension key, refinance the rest, and keep its inkjet, plates, chemicals and film humming, it has a fighting chance. If not, that famous yellow box risks becoming a museum label. (And that is not the kind of Kodak moment anyone ordered.)
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