How Kodak lost its focus

Five charts to start your day

After winding back the wheel on my Kodak instant camera, I passed it to a stranger. He obliged and snapped my mother and me on a beach in southern Turkey. The photo, a little grainy and blurred, still sits on my mother’s mantelpiece. I’ve forgotten the year and even the name of the beach. It is a distant memory, yet the moment endures, preserved by Kodak.

Kodak built an empire on the simple act of capturing a moment, turning photography into something that every family could afford and enjoy. At its height, it commanded a global monopoly on film, chemicals and cameras, with profits flowing in from a business model that seemed unassailable.

Yet hidden within its triumph was the seed of its decline. Kodak engineers had, in fact, pioneered the digital camera as early as 1975, but the company shelved the technology, fearing it would cannibalise its lucrative film sales.

When digital photography finally took off in the 2000s, and later when smartphones placed cameras in every pocket, Kodak found itself unable to pivot. It was still tied to a fading analogue world while consumers moved on. And, so Kodak managed to preserve the memories of millions, yet could not preserve itself.

CHART 1 • How Kodak lost its focus

This chart from Chartr shows Kodak’s revenue peaking at about $16bn in 1996, then sliding for most of the next two decades to roughly $1bn by 2024.

The first leg down mirrors the collapse of film as digital cameras took off. The second, steeper descent aligns with smartphones putting high-quality cameras in every pocket, which crushed both film and compact-camera sales.

Kodak protected its film profits for too long, then entered digital hardware and home printing late, in crowded markets with thin margins. The result is visible in the line-up of bars. Revenue holds up into the early 2000s, then rolls over and accelerates lower, culminating in bankruptcy in 2012 and a much smaller company today.

Source: Chartr

I honestly forgot about Kodak. It's a company that I haven't really seen in a long time, but I don't remember when it disappeared. The irony is that Kodak was meant to preserve memories and still does through the photographs we produced using its film.

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