How Kodak is trying to turn around after teetering on bankruptcy
Jim Continenza’s first day on the job Eastman Kodak While he was chairman of the board in 2019, he received a call from a star Hollywood movie producer who said the company had made a big mistake.
The photo technology company was in the process of shutting down its acetate factory, which was a key ingredient used in film. Christopher Nolan, director of major films such as “Inception” and “Oppenheimer,” urged Continenza to stop the process.
“It says, ‘Don’t close this. Please take a look.’ And so I did,” Continenza, its current CEO, told CNBC. “He was right. I started looking because I was shooting 35 millimeters. [film]and I said, ‘Why would one of the greatest directors of all time give that speech?’ I thought.”
Continenza, a self-described “turnaround expert,” said he quickly realized how important film was to Kodak’s roots and that it could be one of its greatest strengths as it struggled to bring the company back from the brink of bankruptcy.
Fast forward nearly seven years, and several 2026 Oscar-winning films, including “One War in a Row” and “Sinners,” were shot on Kodak film. This is part of a larger trend as the category is seeing a resurgence driven by both movie nostalgia in Hollywood and younger consumers.
But this road was not smooth. The company declared bankruptcy in 2012 and reappeared a year later. It then warned last year that its financial conditions “raise significant doubt about Kodak’s ability to continue operating.”
In its second-quarter earnings filing, when it filed a going concern statement, Kodak reported a 12% drop in gross profit along with millions in debt obligations.
But Continenza said this is one step in a longer process of rebuilding the company to its former success.
Kodak CEO Jim Continenza speaks onstage during the Kodak Film Awards at ASC Clubhouse on March 2, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
Rodin Eckenroth | Getty Images
Last month, the company’s earnings report looked different. Fourth-quarter gross profit reached $67 million, up 31% from the prior year. Kodak also said it reduced annual interest expense by approximately $40 million.
Continenza said the results were signs of the long-term plan he began implementing in 2019. Having previously held leadership roles at communications companies, he chose Kodak as his last company to revitalize before shutting down his division as a senior executive, he told CNBC. AT&T and Lucent.
“Our goal is this: We will create jobs for the next generation. Make no mistake, we will fix this company, put it on a solid foundation and put in place the building blocks to grow all the systems,” Continenza said. “We didn’t put in what we needed, we put in what we wanted, and that’s a difference.”
troubled waters
In a digitally evolving society, Kodak is struggling to maintain its place and relevance.
The company’s bankruptcy protection in 2012 came after it was unable to improve its financial situation as digital photography took off and revolutionized the industry. When it reemerged as a smaller company the following year, it shifted its primary focus to commercial printing.
Although it is no longer a company widely covered by investors, the onset of digital technology constituted a significant setback for Kodak, Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes wrote in a note last year.
“At the time, Kodak management told us that film would co-exist with digital cameras and that more photographs would be taken and more would have to be printed by Kodak,” he wrote.
Still, Kodak faced its own struggles. Its shares lost more than 35% in value in 2014, continued to decline gradually over the next few years, and reached an all-time low of $1.55 per share at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
Last August, over 100 years old The photography company said it has about $155 million in cash and about $600 million in loans.
Wall Street investors didn’t like what they heard. The stock fell from roughly $7 per share a few days ago to just over $5 per share on earnings day.
“We could have done a better job on this, because for us it wasn’t that much of a challenge, it was more of a GAAP accounting fluke by the dates,” Continenza said, adding that this was a “timing issue” for the loans.
Rolls of Kodak Gold film hang on a shelf at the Precision Camera & Video store on August 12, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Continenza said Kodak’s main problems were its “large debt tranches” and lack of communication with its shareholders and customers.
The CEO said he never sold shares in Kodak, but instead bought shares after announcing the company’s direction.
“You have to do the work and the long-term investments and be systematic, but you have to fix your operations, and I spent seven years doing that,” he said. “[It’s] It’s a company that’s over 130 years old, right? “You can imagine what’s in the attic.”
defining success
Continenza said he has been committed to making long-term changes since taking over the company. He replaced nearly 90% of the company’s leadership, paid off more than $400 million in debt, and realigned the company’s priorities to focus on printing and advanced materials and chemicals.
He said it was also important to be “transparent” with his team and acknowledged that a step back at the company would mean layoffs and staff changes.
“The first thing I always do is go out and find people who want to keep and buy the company, and that’s what we did,” he said. “I have a board and investors who love what we do; we keep them informed and they guide us.”
Continenza said he saw an opportunity with Gen Z and the resurgence of the film aesthetic as he examined what was working at the company. The look of the filmed stills and videos captures something that “penetrates your heart and your soul,” he said.
Kodak bent over Analog and originality trend investing resources in film capabilities and creating products that consumers, directors and filmmakers care about.
Continenza also said it has refinanced the company three times and repaired its balance sheet.
He seems to have gotten the right memo on Wall Street. Shares of Kodak are up nearly 100% in the past year.
Kodak 1 year chart
“We are doing our job. The stock needs to crawl, not rise, because that’s how we grow,” he said. “I don’t look at our stock price. I don’t care. I can’t tell you what today is. I’m a long-term investor.”
Continenza said success for him will mean continuing to improve finances and ensuring Kodak has a solid succession plan to continue its growth.
Even though the company has a history of more than 100 years, he said he likes to treat Kodak like a startup where all the debt is paid off, the brand is well-liked, and at that point “it could screw it up.”
“We don’t need to be a $5 billion, $20 billion or $80 billion company,” Continenza said. “We’re a billion-dollar global company, but one of the things we do for us is our brand awareness. Make no mistake, it’s loved and loved around the world and will continue to be so.”
