Kodak CEO On Digital Photography, Kodak Stock Price (EK, MSFT, MOT)

In a New York Times interview published over the weekend, Kodak CEO Antonio M. Perez commented on his company's partnerships with Microsoft and Motorola, and on Kodak's sagging stock price:

Q: Why has the photography industry been dragging its feet on new technologies?

A: Everyone still thinks in terms of the architecture of film, when you had one lens, one shutter, film to capture light, flashes to provide it. A digital camera can have several lenses and lots of light paths coming in - and some of our newer products operate that way. But most digital cameras are dinosaurs, not evolving as fast as the ecosystem to which they belong.

Q: If photography evolves as you suggest, it will draw on many electronic technologies. Does any imaging company, including Kodak, have the know-how to develop the products you envision?

A: The horseless carriage couldn't flourish until roads and gas stations were built and parts were readily available. No one company can direct photography's evolution, either. We already have partnerships with I.B.M., with Microsoft, with lots of others. We are now working with Motorola to create wireless portable devices that can take flawless images that can be shared immediately. Film is gone, and single-purpose cameras are on their way out, too. Devices to capture images will not only be in cellphones, but in jewelry, in glasses frames, in all sorts of multipurpose items that you carry or wear. And they will be able to correct problems like red eye when they snap the picture, not after the fact.

Q: Kodak's stock has taken a beating in the last few years, and very few analysts are recommending Kodak shares. Why don't they share your optimism?

A: We said in 2003 that it would take us four years to transform this company. The first two years were loaded with restructuring costs, and the analysts are reacting to that. My response is: Well, hello, we are following our plan. We said we'd grow digital revenue and profits, and generate a healthy amount of cash, and we are doing all that. When we release our 2005 numbers later this month, the analysts may finally realize that.

EK 2-yr chart:

Comments

[Michele:]

"My response is: Well, hello, we are following our plan."

Duh - what plan is that? To drive the company into the ground? Well, hello, it's working. Kodak is dead, pure and simple. Destroyed by arrogant greedy pompous fools who confused the genius of George Eastman for their own pathetic slogans and moronic "plans". Idiots.

2008 May 22 07:19 PM