Capital Allocation: Principles, Strategies, and Processes for Creating Long-Term Shareholder Value

CHAPTER 25

Secular Challenges

It is difficult to know exactly when the management team and board of Eastman Kodak came to the realization that their enterprise was in serious jeopardy. In 1999, revenues from Kodak’s consumer imaging and professional segments were still growing. The company would buy back around $2 billion of its stock between 1999 and 2000. Kodak increased its dividend per share from $1.76 to $2.21 in 2001.

KODAK UNDER PRESSURE

However, soon after Kodak’s business started experiencing significant pressure. Its core consumer film business began to be negatively impacted by digital photography, which allowed consumers to take digital photographs without the need to capture these images on high-margin Kodak film. Kodak’s FCF would ...