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Kodak to Slash up to 3000 More Jobs

The Eastman Kodak Company announced Thursday that it intends to complete its historic 3-year reorganization plan by the end of 2007, and to become a digital simulation company, focusing on costumer photography and commercial printing. The company said that the reorganization will include the slashing of 28-30 thousand jobs, 3 thousand more than the company`s earlier estimates of 25-27 thousand. The costs related to the layoffs are estimated at $3.6-3.8 billion, as opposed to earlier estimates of $3-3.4 billion. At the end of the process, Kodak`s work force will number 32 thousand, the lowest number of employees the company had employed since the 30s of the former century.

?When a big business is no longer available to absorb its share of the accounting department, of me, of the chief executive, it ends up as an overhang that could depress profits,? Frank Sklarsky, Kodak?s chief financial officer explained. The company, which put a camera in nearly every home in America admitted in September 2003 that its film photography business is imminently shrinking, and worked out a plan to invest in digital markets controlled by large players such as HP, Epson and Cannon.
The battle to combat the decline in demand of film based cameras has forced Kodak into a $3 billion shopping spree, as well as, $2 billion worth of losses in the past 8 consecutive months. In the last quarter of 2006, the company has managed a modest income of $16 million. This quarter has also been Kodak`s first were the profits from digital photography surpassed those of film photography, paper and other chemical related business.