Eastman Kodak Co., the 131-year-old film company whose iconic "K" logo is a universal symbol for photographers and filmmakers around the world, is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection in the next weeks, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The company could be saved if they manage to sell digital patents in the very near future, but Kodak officials are preparing for the worst, and talking to banks about possibly borrowing a cool $1 billion to keep the company in business during bankruptcy proceedings. Their plan is to sell some 1,100 patents through a court-supervised auction, which sounds like way less fun than any of these auctions. Between this and Polaroid going under, we'll all be forced into Instagram soon.
It's a sad turn of events for Kodak, which was for many years the industry leader (former employees call it "the Apple of its time"); the company even invented the digital camera, but never gained a major foothold in the market. Even Don Draper, it seems, couldn't save the doomed company (a word to the wise: prepare your tissues before watching this clip).
