I saw that and thought the same thing. I think it's going to be very difficult to find film and developing chemicals if Kodak drops completely out of the market. Fujifilm will most likely quadruple its prices yet again...
“Ceasing payments for its retirement pension plan.” After some searching around, found an interview with Kodak’s current CEO. Kodak will pay a number of insurance companies to continue the payments to retirees instead of the company providing those payments. The funding will be more stable and current recipients will continue to get their benefits while providing Kodak relief from the obligation.
I had ChatGPT summarize it for me in more natural language earlier this week: "1. Using Pension-Plan Money
Kodak has a pension plan called the Kodak Retirement Income Plan.
Over time, as they fulfill their obligations to retirees, some leftover funds are expected to “revert” back to Kodak — meaning the company gets to keep any excess money after meeting pension obligations.
They want to take this cash (when it comes in) and immediately use part of it to pay down some of their term debt (loans with fixed repayment schedules).
This would reduce interest costs and shrink the amount they need to refinance.
2. Amending, Extending, or Refinancing Remaining Debt
Once the pension money pays down some debt, they still have:
- Remaining term loans
- Preferred stock obligations (these work a bit like debt — investors expect regular payments)
They plan to deal with these by:
- Amending – negotiating changes to the loan terms (like lower interest, longer payback period) with existing lenders.
- Extending – pushing the maturity dates further into the future to buy more time.
- Refinancing – replacing old debt with new debt, ideally on better terms, possibly from different lenders.
Why This is Risky
- Pension cash reversion isn’t guaranteed — it depends on regulatory approvals, investment returns, and the plan actually having excess funds.
- Lender cooperation is uncertain — banks or bondholders might refuse to amend or extend terms, especially if they think Kodak’s financial situation is risky.
- Market conditions matter — if interest rates are high or Kodak’s credit rating is poor, refinancing could be expensive or impossible.
In short:
Kodak’s plan is:
- Get some cash back from the pension plan.
- Use it to pay off part of their debt.
- Negotiate or replace the rest of their debt and preferred stock with new agreements that give them more time.
The trouble is — both steps require outside parties to agree, so Kodak can’t promise it will work."
It is hard to tell from the outside how big the risk that their plans don't work out really is, but having to rely on financial gymnastics like this is not great.
I'm also not sure how much the film business would be affected from any of this as the construct is a bit complex with Eastman Kodak being the producer and Kodak Alaris the distributor.
Kodak stopped offering defined pensions as part of the new employee benefit package in 2015 but that leaves a large number of retirees hoping for the best results.
RoamingScott wrote:
Of course they are. Provia, Japanese Superia, Fujicolor, and Velvia at the minimum.
I don't see Provia or Velvia in stock anywhere. Fujicolor = the Kodak re-labelled stuff?
Is Japanese Superia a thing? Still being made? We should ask our man in Japan Juha if he sees it available.
Acros II supposedly is still being made. Some claim it is an Ilford film but I doubt it.
Velvia 50 and Provia in 135 are available even at Narita airport and of course Yodobashi will have the lot. Either Fuji has stopped exporting the stuff or in so small quantities they are sold quickly. I was in Tokyo for a week very very recently.
Desmolicious wrote:
Acros II supposedly is still being made. Some claim it is an Ilford film but I doubt it.
Acros I rebate text = Fuij style (type of information and location of text) and font
Acros II rebate text = Harman style and font (same as FP4 and HP5)
I realize this is not proof, but it's good enough for me. I think Harman has a license to make it on behalf on Fuji.
theHUN wrote:
Acros I rebate text = Fuij style (type of information and location of text) and font
Acros II rebate text = Harman style and font (same as FP4 and HP5)
Although it's worth noting that Fuji Pro 400H (no longer made, but lightly expired rolls are still available) uses Fomapan style backing paper (exact same style and font). So it's also possible that Fuji buys backing papers from other manufacturers.
theHUN wrote:
I think Harman has a license to make it on behalf on Fuji.
Regardless of whether that’s what happening with Acros II, I wish they’d strike some deals like that for some other Fuji films.. Provia 400x, Pro 400H, Superia 1600…
Though I think even if Harman had access to the formulas they wouldn’t be able to easily make all of them because of environmental regulations and some source material being unavailable today (at least that’s what Fuji claimed as reasons for discontinuing some films)
