Troubled Kodak Creates New Business Structure

Eastman Kodak Co. said Tuesday that it has realigned and simplified its business structure in an effort to cut costs, create shareholder value and accelerate its long-drawn-out digital transformation. Its depressed shares shot up 30 percent in morning trading.

The 132-year-old photography icon has been pummeled by consumers' switch to digital. Its fortunes deteriorated further last year, and it said in November that it could run out of cash in a year if it couldn't sell a trove of 1,100 digital-imaging patents.

Since the start of the year, Kodak said it now has two business units instead of three. The commercial and consumer segments will report to a new chief operating office led by President and COO Philip Faraci and Laura Quatela, who was also recently named to serve alongside him in those executive posts.

Previously, Kodak's business segments were divided into its traditional film and photo paper products, consumer digital imaging and graphic communications, which included printing equipment.

Since 2005, Kodak has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into new lines of inkjet printers that are finally on the verge of turning a profit. Home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging are viewed as Kodak's new core.

Kodak is hoping the printer, software and packaging businesses will more than double in size by 2013 and account by then for 25 percent of its revenue, or nearly $2 billion.

"As we complete Kodak's transformation to a digital company, our future markets will be very different from our past, and we need to organize ourselves in keeping with that evolution," said Chief Executive Antonio Perez.

No business segments are being cut, just reorganized. Kodak is not announcing job cuts as part of the move, said spokesman Christopher Veronda. "However, we will continue to look for opportunities to streamline operations and properly position the company's...