Kodak is cutting 15,000 jobs, trying to adjust to digital age.

[BurtWorm]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/23/business/23kodak.html?pagewanted=print&position=

January 23, 2004

Kodak to Reduce Work Force by Up to 15,000
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

ROCHESTER, Jan. 22 - The digital revolution dealt Kodak workers a painful blow on Thursday. Facing a sharp drop in demand for conventional film, the Eastman Kodak Company said it was speeding its transition to digital imaging while cutting costs in its film business by eliminating up to 15,000 jobs worldwide, more than a fifth of its work force.

The job cuts will come over three years, and the company said it would take charges of up to $1.7 billion against its earnings in that period. Worldwide sales of consumer film, one-use cameras and advanced film stock fell 11 percent in dollar terms, and 15 percent in volume, in the fourth quarter from the period a year earlier, the company said.

In the United States, the shift to digital cameras was even more pronounced. Fourth-quarter consumer film sales fell 20 percent in dollars and 23 percent in volume. Daniel A. Carp, Kodak's chairman and chief executive, told analysts at a meeting in New York that the company intended to cut fixed costs in its conventional film business faster than the volume declined....

[ClintonTyree]

1. And Kodak stock............

rose over $3.00 a share today on that 'good news'. Wall Street just love Americans getting layed off, it puts more money in the shareholders pockets, not those ungrateful workers who actually DO something for their money.
I worked at that shithole for 29 years and got out the first chance I could. I used to work in film R&D............now there IS NO film R&D anymore. Everyone I used to work with has been layed off. There aren't ANY jobs in the Rochester, NY area that will pay anything even close to what they were making at Kodak.
I really feel for those folks, many of them my old friends.

[BurtWorm]

2. Another sign of the times.

How is Rochester doing as a whole? I shudder to think of it.

[LosinIt]

3. Rochester is a hole. Hurting badly. And I love the place....

But Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, And Kodak, the biggies, are all a shadow of their former selves. The smaller machine shops and other suppliers of Kodak et al are hurting too. There are a lot of smaller businesses, many small high techs that are doing well. Paychex is Rochester based and they are doing well as is Wegman's, the high end grocer. I just hope that Kodak leaves someone behind to turn off the lights.

Here's a link with a chart that shows the percentage of Kodak jobs in Rochester since the 80s.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/biznews/01222F317CB_business.shtml

[Serenity-NOW]

4. Whole new meaning for Kodak moment eh?

[LosinIt]

5. And in true corporate style, Kodak notified the media first

and the employees later.

[Serenity-NOW]

6. That bites. So they got fired by the news shows. nt