Post by psalmchapter51 on Sept 12, 2012 10:05:48 GMT -5
Pro will love this one...
"A new announcement from Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK), the more than 130-year old company struggling to stay alive, will eliminate an additional 1000 jobs, continuing its already aggressive strategy to reduce cost while diversifying business.
At the head of the failing company, which stocks have gone from over $25 two decades ago to less than a dollar, is Antonio Perez, Chairman and CEO. Perez was called a “CEO to go” in 2007 and again in 2009.
After trying to avoid the worst outcome for several years since he took the CEO position at the company in 2005, Perez announced Eastman Kodak was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the beginning of this year. The company is expected to finalize its restructuring plan in February of next year.
Eastman Kodak problems did not start with the digital revolution, according to experts, as it gave birth to the first digital camera in 1975. The company also developed a large number of products including cell phones’ photo technology, which is one of the company’s 17,000 patents in an estimated portfolio valued between $2 billion and $3 billion.
Staggering, isn’t it?
However, the problem seems to be a slow moving bureaucratic company with a workforce that reached nearly 150,000 employees in 1998. It has been living off its patents and law suits against competitors for decades, burning cash and not finding a way to generate genuine earnings, analyst Shannon Cross said.
Perez, one of only seven Latino CEO’s in Fortune 500 companies, blamed the country’s economic recession as a factor that impeded a change in course, and promised a significant step toward the company’s transformation.
He announced discontinuation of their core business, making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames. The company is also looking to sell the Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging business units.
Born in Vigo, Spain, in a humble home and the child of a fisherman, Perez has a degree in electronic engineering, and studied marketing and business administration in Spain and France. He graduated from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and from the Institut Européen D’Administration Des Affaires.
Before joining Kodak in 2003, Perez held a 25-year brilliant career and several positions at Hewlett Packard. He was Corporate Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and President of the company’s executive council.
Perez was instrumental in HP’s turnaround of the inkjet printer business. He pushed the idea that, despite company strides in the corporate market, the company should switch to the consumer market, manufacturing affordable printers that would hook up to home personal PCs.
He has repeatedly made remarks about how hard it was to change HP’s prevailing culture focused on corporate buyers to concentrate on consumers’ needs.
HP moved fast into the personal PC market with great success not before going through an internal and difficult transition, Perez said. As a result, the company increased its market share to over 60 percent around the world.
Despite his accomplishments, Perez was passed over as a choice to the company’s CEO position in 2003. He quit.
Eastman Kodak pulled him into the company’s troubles in 2005. Even though the company was ranked among the top three in U.S. market share and its position as the biggest maker of digital cameras, the once innovative digital giant was on a slippery slope that plunged its stock to cents on the dollar.
He introduced a new era in digital technologies and products for consumer and commercial applications including consumer inkjet printers, CMOS sensors for digital cameras and mobile phones. The company generated $6.6B in revenues in 2007.
But the traditional business model did not move fast enough to confront fierce competition from companies like Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus and other smaller manufacturers in the digital imaging business.
“As more and more firms entered the different businesses related to digital photography in the broad sense of the term, Kodak found itself in a position where it wanted to do at little bit of everything without ever committing to anything,” said Social Cyclone, a social marketing firm.
In 2010, Perez missed cash generation and digital revenue growth targets, still receiving a total compensation of $5.7 million—half of his earnings a year earlier. In taking a stake at Eastman Kodak’s survival, he is risking his own survival as well.
Will Perez be able to work the miracle this time?"
Read more: www.voxxi.com/antonio-perez-struggle-for-survival-eastman-kodak/#ixzz26GgWuPxY
"A new announcement from Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK), the more than 130-year old company struggling to stay alive, will eliminate an additional 1000 jobs, continuing its already aggressive strategy to reduce cost while diversifying business.
At the head of the failing company, which stocks have gone from over $25 two decades ago to less than a dollar, is Antonio Perez, Chairman and CEO. Perez was called a “CEO to go” in 2007 and again in 2009.
After trying to avoid the worst outcome for several years since he took the CEO position at the company in 2005, Perez announced Eastman Kodak was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the beginning of this year. The company is expected to finalize its restructuring plan in February of next year.
Eastman Kodak problems did not start with the digital revolution, according to experts, as it gave birth to the first digital camera in 1975. The company also developed a large number of products including cell phones’ photo technology, which is one of the company’s 17,000 patents in an estimated portfolio valued between $2 billion and $3 billion.
Staggering, isn’t it?
However, the problem seems to be a slow moving bureaucratic company with a workforce that reached nearly 150,000 employees in 1998. It has been living off its patents and law suits against competitors for decades, burning cash and not finding a way to generate genuine earnings, analyst Shannon Cross said.
Perez, one of only seven Latino CEO’s in Fortune 500 companies, blamed the country’s economic recession as a factor that impeded a change in course, and promised a significant step toward the company’s transformation.
He announced discontinuation of their core business, making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames. The company is also looking to sell the Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging business units.
Born in Vigo, Spain, in a humble home and the child of a fisherman, Perez has a degree in electronic engineering, and studied marketing and business administration in Spain and France. He graduated from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and from the Institut Européen D’Administration Des Affaires.
Before joining Kodak in 2003, Perez held a 25-year brilliant career and several positions at Hewlett Packard. He was Corporate Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and President of the company’s executive council.
Perez was instrumental in HP’s turnaround of the inkjet printer business. He pushed the idea that, despite company strides in the corporate market, the company should switch to the consumer market, manufacturing affordable printers that would hook up to home personal PCs.
He has repeatedly made remarks about how hard it was to change HP’s prevailing culture focused on corporate buyers to concentrate on consumers’ needs.
HP moved fast into the personal PC market with great success not before going through an internal and difficult transition, Perez said. As a result, the company increased its market share to over 60 percent around the world.
Despite his accomplishments, Perez was passed over as a choice to the company’s CEO position in 2003. He quit.
Eastman Kodak pulled him into the company’s troubles in 2005. Even though the company was ranked among the top three in U.S. market share and its position as the biggest maker of digital cameras, the once innovative digital giant was on a slippery slope that plunged its stock to cents on the dollar.
He introduced a new era in digital technologies and products for consumer and commercial applications including consumer inkjet printers, CMOS sensors for digital cameras and mobile phones. The company generated $6.6B in revenues in 2007.
But the traditional business model did not move fast enough to confront fierce competition from companies like Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus and other smaller manufacturers in the digital imaging business.
“As more and more firms entered the different businesses related to digital photography in the broad sense of the term, Kodak found itself in a position where it wanted to do at little bit of everything without ever committing to anything,” said Social Cyclone, a social marketing firm.
In 2010, Perez missed cash generation and digital revenue growth targets, still receiving a total compensation of $5.7 million—half of his earnings a year earlier. In taking a stake at Eastman Kodak’s survival, he is risking his own survival as well.
Will Perez be able to work the miracle this time?"
Read more: www.voxxi.com/antonio-perez-struggle-for-survival-eastman-kodak/#ixzz26GgWuPxY