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WSJ: Kodak is trying to sell its online photo gallery business

Molly McHugh
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Kodak Logo

In the process of clawing its way back to operable financial standing, Kodak is lightening the load and selling off what it can. According to the Wall Street Journal, Kodak is trying to sell its online photo-sharing business to “fund its turnaround.”

The image of a sailor throwing items—and then buckets of water—off a sinking ship comes to mind. Just last week it was revealed the company has sold off its image sensor division to a private company, which presumably doesn’t mean much for its camera manufacturing future. Even if Kodak chooses to produce digital cameras, we wouldn’t expect to see any real innovation or market captivating devices from the brand.

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Analysts have mused that Kodak might transition into a behind-the-scenes business, in the sense that its products revolve around the imaging world in a more supplementary way. Business and creative solution services, we mused, might be an ideal category to throw its weight behind: Lighten your load, lose what you can, downsize, and so on and so forth–and pick a sector that’s less expensive and more efficient to focus on.  

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While business solutions still might be in the cards, it’s becoming clear that Kodak doesn’t intend to hit up consumers for their post-shoot imaging needs. Kodak is reportedly trying to sell off Kodak Gallery, which provides uploading, sharing, hosting, and photo gift options, to photo-sharing sites, competitors, retailers, and private equity firms for “hundreds of millions of dollars.” Unfortunately the company is in no position to barter: It needs money and it needs money now. Also worth noting is the fact that Kodak Gallery was the product of acquiring a site called Ofoto in 2001 for a price speculated to be below $100 million.

So what’s going to be left of Kodak at the end of the day? That remains to be seen, especially since it isn’t yet clear what the company is choosing to focus on actually selling—only what it’s willing to get rid of in order to stay afloat. Printers and business solutions are still in the mix, but we’ve got a feeling Kodak isn’t quite done reshuffling its divisions yet.  

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