In the 20th century, Kodak was photography.
Founded in 1888 by George Eastman, Kodak revolutionized picture-taking with the slogan:
“You press the button, we do the rest.”
For decades, it dominated the global market:
- Created the first consumer camera
- Invented color film, roll film, and home video
- Controlled over 80% of U.S. film sales
- Employed 145,000 people worldwide
- Peaked with $15 billion in annual revenue in the late 1990s
Kodak wasn’t just a company. It was memories, nostalgia, and American innovation.
The Digital Camera… Invented at Kodak
In 1975, a 24-year-old Kodak engineer named Steve Sasson built something remarkable:
A prototype digital camera — using a Fairchild CCD sensor, 100×100 pixels, and a cassette recorder to store the images.
His demo to Kodak executives?
- A blurry black-and-white image
- Saved on tape
- Viewable on a TV screen
The reaction?
“That’s cute — but don’t tell anyone.”
Kodak buried the invention. Why?
- They feared cannibalizing their core film business
- Film and chemical sales were 70% of profits
- Their empire was built on razor-and-blade economics: sell cheap cameras, make money on film
So instead of leading the future, Kodak protected the past.
The Rise of the Competitors
As Kodak clung to film, others moved forward:
- Sony launched the Mavica (1981)
- Canon and Nikon raced to develop digital SLRs
- Fujifilm diversified early and aggressively
- Apple launched the QuickTake camera in the 1990s
- By the early 2000s, digital photography was exploding
Kodak responded — late and awkwardly:
- Entered digital cameras in the mid-1990s
- Launched photo-sharing site Ofoto (but focused on printing)
- Made cameras… but treated them like accessories to film
In 2005, Kodak was still the #1 digital camera seller in the U.S. — but losing money.
They couldn’t shift the business model fast enough.
The iPhone Blow
In 2007, the final disruption arrived: The iPhone
It wasn’t just a phone — it was a camera in your pocket, linked to social media, storage, and instant sharing. Sales of point-and-shoot cameras collapsed.
Kodak’s digital business was:
- Low-margin
- Overcrowded
- Too late
By 2010:
- Kodak’s market cap had dropped from $31 billion to under $1 billion
- Film sales were in freefall
- Camera sales had plateaued
- Debt was mounting
In January 2012, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Attempted Reinventions
After bankruptcy, Kodak tried several pivots:
- Focused on commercial printing and chemicals
- Licensed the Kodak brand to other companies (e.g., Kodak-branded Android phones)
- Launched a cryptocurrency (KodakCoin) in 2018 to protect photo rights — it flopped
- Tried to position itself as a pharmaceutical supplier during COVID — the stock jumped, then crashed after allegations of insider trading
The result?
Kodak remains a shadow of its former self.
From 145,000 employees in the 1980s… to under 4,500 today.
Strategic Missteps
❌ Fear of Cannibalization
Kodak could have owned digital. Instead, it feared short-term losses and missed long-term dominance.
❌ Innovation Suppression
Internal R&D created brilliant products — that leadership shelved to protect legacy revenue.
❌ Late Pivot
By the time Kodak embraced digital, others owned the market — and the margins were gone.
❌ Misunderstanding the Value Chain
Kodak thought photography was about printing. Digital made it about sharing — and Kodak never got there.
The Numbers
| Year | Revenue | Market Cap | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | $15.9B | $31B+ | Peak Kodak |
| 2005 | $14.3B | $8.4B | Digital leader, losing money |
| 2012 | $4.1B | <$500M | Bankruptcy filed |
| 2024 | ~$1.2B | ~$400M | Survives in niche markets |
Lessons Learned
- Disruption often starts from within. Kodak invented the tech that destroyed it.
- Protecting legacy revenue can kill future relevance. Short-term gains, long-term loss.
- Success breeds inertia. Kodak’s dominance blinded it to seismic shifts.
- The value moves. Film companies didn’t realize digital wasn’t just about image capture — it was about ecosystem, storage, and sharing.
Kodak could have been Apple for photography.
Instead, it became Blockbuster with chemicals.
It had the future in its lab —
But chose not to develop it.And for a few years, a startup with a shipping label beat the king at his own game.
