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Kodak, who next ?
Jon Ison - 19/1/12 at 10:28 PM

Expected, unexpected ?

Ninehigh - 19/1/12 at 10:32 PM

Hah, if that's the case next will be Hoover, Macdonalds and Telly

(Kodak are filing for bankruptcy, in case other people aren't glued to news24 atm )

slingshot2000 - 19/1/12 at 10:35 PM

This was being muted 2 weeks ago, why does it take the national news so long to catch up ?

ReMan - 19/1/12 at 10:46 PM

Listeneing to R4, another that thought they wrer to big to fail and that new technology would not catch on

JoelP - 19/1/12 at 10:50 PM

Funny hoover gets mentioned - apparently its just a brand name now, owned by candy i found out cos mine broke after 8 months

bi22le - 19/1/12 at 10:50 PM

OMG really?

That really shows that sometimes your name does not sell your products. They do actually have to offer a USP.

bi22le - 19/1/12 at 10:51 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh
Hah, if that's the case next will be Hoover, Macdonalds and Telly

(Kodak are filing for bankruptcy, in case other people aren't glued to news24 atm )


Telly?

Ninehigh - 19/1/12 at 11:04 PM

quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh
Hah, if that's the case next will be Hoover, Macdonalds and Telly

(Kodak are filing for bankruptcy, in case other people aren't glued to news24 atm )


Telly?


Yeah the entire medium of TV... I've been up since about 4am so my mind's playing funny buggers... I was trying to think of a big brand in that field

Oh and if you want a "this technology will never catch on" go read up Xerox PARC

designer - 19/1/12 at 11:36 PM

They should have changed with the times!

A high street 'name' will go soon.

Ninehigh - 19/1/12 at 11:40 PM

I heard La Senza went under, which surprised its previous owner Theo Pathetis? Whoever it was he said they posted a profit in 2010...

Simon - 20/1/12 at 01:05 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Jon Ison
Expected, unexpected ?


Greece, Italy, Spain, the entire Euro area. Take your pick!

ATB

Simon

stevebubs - 20/1/12 at 01:36 AM

Kodak?

Since the explosion of the digital camera - totally expected. Surprised it has taken this long, TBH...

stevebubs - 20/1/12 at 01:39 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh
I heard La Senza went under, which surprised its previous owner Theo Pathetis? Whoever it was he said they posted a profit in 2010...


I saw that, too...makes you wonder whether they couldn't afford the finance / overstretched their debt based on returns...

Bit like the Glazer Family's leveraged purchase of Man Utd...that's come close to the brink a few times IIRC

[Edited on 20/1/12 by stevebubs]

orton1966 - 20/1/12 at 06:48 AM

When times were good a lot of big companies sold there assets (property) and leased them back (probably paid share dividends or chairman’s bonus with the proceeds), trouble is once your assets are gone it’s harder to borrow and rent/leases go up. This is what did for a big care-homes company a few months ago. It’s also happened with some high street names.

Kodak is a simple one, clung to film in as the world turned digital, realised late panicked and jumped on colour printing as the world started to love the Ipad (and similar) to view images.

As for who next:

What about Nokia – Missed every phone development, clamshells, smartphones etc. Remember they used to be the market leader by a mile!

A big laptop company- The move to netbooks and tablets has washed over some of the original players

Basically just look for a big company that misses the market changes a couple of times in a row or that slips from premium brand (can command high price) to commodity (competing on price) over a short’ish period of time

Nickp - 20/1/12 at 07:31 AM

quote:
Originally posted by orton1966
What about Nokia – Missed every phone development, clamshells, smartphones etc. Remember they used to be the market leader by a mile!


But they do provide a large majority of the mobile network equipment (worldwide) that each of these swanky new phones etc needs to function. I know, because I help maintain these networks

SeaBass - 20/1/12 at 08:00 AM

Kodak lost sight of the prime market that will make them money - the mass consumer market. They assumed that because their chemical film was highly regarded by professionals and that almost everyone at one time had a Kodak film camera consumers would stick with the brand.

Their structure meant they would not and could not respond quickly enough to changes in demand from the marketplace - this combined with arrogance has sealed their fate.

I don't believe they will go under - more fade into a shadow of their former selves.

PSpirine - 20/1/12 at 08:27 AM

Nokia do so much stuff that as a mobile phone consumer you never actually physically see, that I doubt they'll be going bankrupt. They may re-structure their business slightly but they're pretty well set!

Heck they made speakers for the E36 BMW?!

Neville Jones - 20/1/12 at 10:04 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Jon Ison
Expected, unexpected ?



GTS Tuning?

owelly - 20/1/12 at 10:32 AM

Having seen companies asset-stripped, I often wonder if a lot of the big companies that fold, are all they seem. I wonder if there have been subsiduaries of Kodak or parts of the company (the chemical/research divisions for example) that have already been sold-off or shuffled sideways to a part of 'Kodak' that won't feel the administrator. That way when Kodak folds, it takes the debt with it, but the other bits get to carry on.

Irony - 20/1/12 at 10:49 AM

Personally I think Blockbusters will be soon. I would have got out of that business 4-5 years ago if I was in it. Technology moves so fast these days and some companies just don't look to the future.

dhutch - 20/1/12 at 10:59 AM

Nokia will be an interesting one, they have certainly lost the plot in terms of phone design, but as said, you get the feeling they have fingars in enough pies that they will stay up. That said, never say never.


Daniel

PSpirine - 20/1/12 at 11:08 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Neville Jones
quote:
Originally posted by Jon Ison
Expected, unexpected ?



GTS Tuning?


Rod Ends - 20/1/12 at 11:42 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Irony
Personally I think Blockbusters will be soon. I would have got out of that business 4-5 years ago if I was in it.
Technology moves so fast these days and some companies just don't look to the future.


I read Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte a few years ago - he predicted a switch from atoms to bits:

quote:
Negroponte writes a lot about the idea of bits and atoms.
He notes that bits are the smallest form of information on a computer and that many bits when combined make up all information on a computer.
Digital music, ebooks, emails and many other types of information on the computer are made of bits.
He also writes about atoms which make up physical, tangible objects such as CDs, books and letters.
He believes that in the future all forms of information that are now made of atoms (books, CDs, etc.) will eventually be turned into bits.

Daddylonglegs - 20/1/12 at 11:51 AM

George White Motorcycles! Been around for almost 50years as far as I know, the local one to us (Swindon) expanded around 5 years ago to a brand new site near my work. Today they announced receivership!

I guess this is going to get much worse before it gets better?

britishtrident - 20/1/12 at 01:39 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh
Hah, if that's the case next will be Hoover, Macdonalds and Telly

(Kodak are filing for bankruptcy, in case other people aren't glued to news24 atm )


Hoover went bust 20 years back through the stupid marketing cased by a CEO chasiing sales not profit they still exist as a brand.

Nearly 15 years back i did some sub-contract work for Polaroid they knew the writing was on the wall for film cameras even then but ...............

Moorron - 20/1/12 at 01:50 PM

Comet, Curry's and Dixons. People are not buying this stuff at the moment or can get it much cheaper online.

MikeRJ - 20/1/12 at 01:55 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Rod Ends
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
Personally I think Blockbusters will be soon. I would have got out of that business 4-5 years ago if I was in it.
Technology moves so fast these days and some companies just don't look to the future.


I read Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte a few years ago - he predicted a switch from atoms to bits:

quote:
Negroponte writes a lot about the idea of bits and atoms.
He notes that bits are the smallest form of information on a computer and that many bits when combined make up all information on a computer.
Digital music, ebooks, emails and many other types of information on the computer are made of bits.
He also writes about atoms which make up physical, tangible objects such as CDs, books and letters.
He believes that in the future all forms of information that are now made of atoms (books, CDs, etc.) will eventually be turned into bits.


And how do these bits get stored? In physical devices made from atoms of course...

iank - 20/1/12 at 04:34 PM

Nokia mobile phones and Nokia Siemens Networks are completely different companies, though they used to be one.

Mobile phones is toast IMO (I've worked for them twice, once out of choice, once when they finally bought out Symbian) and have been since Jorma Ollila left for Shell.

Networks were always on the brink, but if 4G takes off they might make it.

Ninehigh - 20/1/12 at 05:31 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Neville Jones
quote:
Originally posted by Jon Ison
Expected, unexpected ?



GTS Tuning?


Nah, doesn't cost anything to make nothing and take money for it

Yeah Blockbuster could be next, along with any other company that doesn't have a net presence (for example I have bought an average of one newspaper per year)