Of all the businesses in Rochester, not many are as widely recognized as Kodak and Xerox. However, a new development revealed that these two major Rochester companies will be involved in a significant business deal. According to national media reports, Kodak is preparing to sell its Kettering inkjet printing business to Xerox.
“Unfortunately we have not made any announcement and cannot provide any additional details,” said spokesperson Nick Rangel in an email.
The Prosper inkjet printing system began its development partially at the company’s Miami Valley Research Park operations in Kettering. A few years ago, the company had a total of nearly 500 employees. Kettering has actually been identified in the past as the business’ largest operation outside of New York.
A print industry publication and a New York TV station say there is also speculation that the company will announce a purchaser for its high-speed inkjet business. The industry publication had identified the purchaser to be Xerox and cited an unnamed source “close to the situation.”
Kodak had originally intended to sell the Kettering unit last year, but then made it known that the sale was likely to be finalized sometime in 2017.
When Antonio Perez, Kodak Chairman and Chief Executive at the time, visited Kettering back in 2010 to attend the company’s shareholder’s meeting, Perez called the Prosper system of printing “a revolution in the printing industry.” This isn’t surprising considering that print is one of the largest industries worldwide. It is eight times larger than the video game industry and significantly larger than auto manufacturing as well.
“The product line that is managed out of Dayton is one of the largest opportunities we have in the company,” said Perez at the time.
This sale is a good omen for Kodak, who turned its first annual profit despite more decreases in overall revenue since coming out of bankruptcy about three years ago.
“We are executing very well given the cards we hold,” said Jeff Clarke, current Kodak CEO. “The year-over-year improvements have been monumental, from a company burning hundreds of millions of dollars a year down to essentially break-even in cash. It was a difficult hole we were in.”
Clarke also noted that Kodak saw revenues increase by 3% in the divisions of Micros 3-D Printing and packaging, which is to be expected since almost 90% of everything we buy arrives via ship.
However, Kodak has become a much smaller company than it was when it first emerged from bankruptcy back in 2013. The global workforce has declined by 31%, but the company continues to employ approximately 1,600 people in the Rochester area.
Ultimately, the company expects its 2017 fiscal year revenues — excluding the Prosper business — to land somewhere between $1.4 and $1.5 billion.
No Comment