Discontinuance

[Nigel]

Dan;

That has been posted here many times. Kodak has gone from about 120,000 world wide to about 50,000 or less world wide or less. Income has dropped from $20B for film to $2 B total with film being about $1B.

This is not untypical of most major film companies.

PE

Each quarter, I do a bit of number crunching on Kodak's numbers and use it as a proxy for the film industry. My most recent look at Kodak's numbers agree with PE's observation - film and related products represent about $1billion in net income. And Kodak represents 40-60% of the industry depending on what sources you look at.

Although we have seen a big drop in film sales and net income, it remains a sizable market. Big enough that should Kodak exit the film market, it would be an interesting market to another company. As well, over the past few quarters, it appears that film and related sales have started to stabilize.

The biggest problem now facing Kodak (as opposed to a few years ago) is legacy costs. This is the cost associated with the pensions and benefits for former employees and current employees. The closing and sale of plants and product lines are a means of dealing with those costs. It looks to me like film will remain a viable product line for either Kodak or its successor companies.

[Snapshot]

If film sales and usage has started to stabilize, it seems we are entering a time when film companies will start to invest and deploy new technologies. Who would want to do any R&D in a market that shrinking dramatically? I think this is good news, despite the recent discontinued products of late.