According to news on August 19, the official WeChat ID of "Kodak China" issued a "Statement on Misleading Media Reports", saying that some media reports about the imminent cessation of operations, termination of business, or filing for bankruptcy are inaccurate and reflect its fundamental misunderstanding of the technical disclosure information in Kodak's recent second-quarter financial report submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are misleading and lack critical background information and are hereby clarified.
According to a report on the CNN website on August 13, Eastman Kodak, a 133-year-old photographic equipment company, warned investors that the company may not survive for long.
The following is the full text of the statement:
On August 19, Kodak issued a statement on misleading media reports: Some media reports that Kodak is about to cease operations, terminate business, or file for bankruptcy are inaccurate and reflect their fundamental misunderstanding of the technical disclosure information in Kodak’s recent second-quarter financial report submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We hereby clarify that these reports are misleading and lack critical background information.
The matters that need to be highlighted are as follows: Kodak has no plans to cease operations, terminate business or file for bankruptcy protection; on the contrary, Kodak is confident that it will complete repayment, extension or refinancing on or before the maturity of debt and preferred shares; when the planned transaction is expected to be completed early next year, Kodak's balance sheet will be significantly stronger than in recent years and will almost achieve zero net debt; "going concern disclosure" is a technical report required by accounting standards; we will continue to fulfill our obligations to all pension plan participants.
Pension plan transaction situation: Kodak has been preparing for the termination of the pension plan for some time and expects to obtain approximately US$500 million in assets when the transaction is completed in December 2025 - after fulfilling its obligations to all pension plan participants. Approximately US$300 million of this amount is cash and approximately US$200 million is investment assets that can be converted into cash.
Kodak's debt position: Currently, Kodak has $477 million in loans and $100 million in issued preferred stock. According to the requirements of the relevant loan agreement, Kodak must use the US$300 million in cash expected to be obtained in December 2025 to repay the loan. Kodak can then separately dispose of the remaining US$177 million in loans and US$100 million in preferred shares.
Kodak's Going Concern: In addition to our focus on reducing debt and interest expense, we believe our business is solid and self-sustaining. In the second quarter of 2025, we used only $3 million of cash, primarily for growth investments, which was a significant improvement from the first quarter, and we have no plans to rely on cash generated from pension plan transactions to fund our operations.
In short, Kodak is confident in its plans to meet all of its obligations and is optimistic about its future prospects.
For further details on this subject, please review Kodak's Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 11, 2025, which includes the cautionary statements regarding forward-looking statements in that document referenced herein.