Kodak Confirms Plans To Sell Imaging Units In Bankruptcy Deal

By David Zielenziger | August 24 2012 9:30 AM

Bankrupt photography giant Eastman Kodak Co. (Pink: EKDKQ) announced it plans to sell its legacy businesses in cameras, film and photos to become a company that specialized in printers.

REUTERS

Rolls of Kodak film are seen on a camera store shelf in New York, January 5, 2012. Eastman Kodak is preparing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in case it is unable to sell its digital patents to raise capital, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

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The Rochester, N.Y., company founded in 1878 said its financial adviser, Lazard (NYSE: LAZ), will try to sell the units, much like it has been trying to auction more than 1,100 imaging patents for the past year. Those patents, believed to be worth between $2 billion and $3 billion, still haven't been sold. Kodak said it's "continuing discussions" with parties and may call off the deal.

Two groups, one headed by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, the other by Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), the No. 1 search engine, were believed to have bid only around $300 million in a process that ended Aug. 10.

The sale of the legacy businesses "is an important step in our company's reorganization," said Kodak CEO Antonio Perez. Any sales would have to be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper in Manhattan.

Shares of Kodak traded at 25 cents Friday, valuing the once-mighty photo giant at only $66.6 million.