Kodak to Cut Up to 3000 More Jobs

In a bid to complete its transition from traditional film to digital photography in 2007, Eastman Kodak Co. will cut up to 3000 more jobs, the company announced today at a meeting with investors in New York. The move means the company will have shed approximately 30,000 workers over the past four years.

A January 2004 plan to cut 15,000 jobs worldwide became a decision in October 2005 to cut 25,000 jobs and close one-third of its facilities by mid-2007. (See "Kodak Loses $1B; Plans More Job Cuts"). Then, in August 2006, the company upped that number to as many as 27,000 workers, at a total cost of $3 billion to $4 billion.

To date, Kodak has eliminated 23,400 jobs at a cost of $2.7 billion. The company said the total cost of reducing its payroll by between 28,000 and 30,000 workers will be as high as $3.8 billion.

Factoring in to today's announcement is the pending sale of Kodak's 111-year-old Health Group to Onex Healthcare Holdings Inc. for $2.55 billion. (See "Kodak Selling Health Group for $2.5B")

With the additional cuts announced today and the 8100 positions associated with the Health Group also off the company's payroll, Kodak's global work force could fall to around 30,000, the lowest it has been since the 1950s. At its peak in 1988, Kodak employed more than 145,000.

The company told investors today that it expects to generate digital earnings from operations of $200 million to $300 million on digital revenue growth of 3 to 5 percent.

"During the past three years we have made visible and significant progress in creating the new Kodak," said Kodak Chairman and CEO Antonio M. Perez. "We have built the industry's leading provider of products and services for commercial printers, and this week we launched a long-awaited breakthrough value proposition for consumers in the inkjet market. In 2007, we are continuing to move aggressively to complete the transformation of our business operations and fully implement a business model which will power our future success in digital markets."

As part of its "aggressive" entry into the inkjet market, on Tuesday Kodak said it is releasing three all-in-one printers in March that will "revolutionize the industry" by allowing consumers to print lab-quality photos at home on a printer that uses inexpensive, premium-quality inks.

“Kodak is now a company comprised of numerous leading digital businesses with diverse sources of sales and earnings, coupled with strong intellectual property positions,” said Perez. “Our dramatic operational improvements during the past three years have created a solid foundation from which Kodak will become a growing digital company with innovative new products and services, attractive margins and strong cash generation.”

For more information, visit: www.kodak.com