Kodak Files for Bankruptcy

The once-mighty Eastman Kodak company has filed for bankruptcy. The 131-year-old firm, unable to reinvent itself quickly enough for the digital age, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this morning after running out of cash to fund its turnaround, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company says it has secured a $950 million line of credit from Citigroup to allow it to keep operating during restructuring.

Kodak—which has cut 47,000 jobs and closed 13 manufacturing plants since 2003—tried to sell off its digital imaging patents to raise funds but the prospect of the company going bust scared potential buyers away. The company, which switched focus to inkjet printers as film sales dived, says it plans to keep operating normally, but the future of many of its 19,000 employees is in doubt and hundreds of millions of dollars are likely to be cut from its pension obligations. (More Eastman Kodak stories.)