Kodak's stock skyrocketed severalfold today, and it had nothing to do with the company's long-established business in the world of photography. News broke that Kodak had secured at $765 million loan from the US government to shift its attention to producing ingredients for generic drugs.
In the US, small businesses have been struggling to access the COVID relief funds set aside for them in the original coronavirus stimulus package. And while additional funding is on the way, one Alabama photographer says that "hope is dwindling" she'll receive anything at all.
It looks like Photojojo aren't the only ones getting into the drone rental service. Student at the University of South Florida will soon be able to check out the controversial, camera-toting, remote-controlled flying machines straight from the campus library.
Google has had no issues expanding street view to some pretty amazing places. Thanks in large part to the company's trekker backpacks, we can now visit the Grand Canyon, explore Central Park and check out the view from the world's tallest peaks.
But the company isn't above asking others to help expand the "off-road" street view repertoire, and so Google is announcing plans to loan out those expensive Trekkers to worthy third party organizations.
Over the last year, no news has been good news for Eastman Kodak. The company's slow and painful climb out of bankruptcy has involved everything from corporate greed to lost patent wars and sub-par auction outcomes. But just a few weeks ago a flickering light emerged at the end of the tunnel for Kodak in the form of $793M in conditional financing.
In fact, since we last reported on the story, the loan amount has gotten even bigger. That sizable $793M has been upped to $830M, every dime of which Kodak desperately needs to get its hands on if it ever intends to escape bankruptcy. But as the saying goes: there's no such thing as a free lunch -- and definitely not one worth $830M. The banks that have agreed to help Kodak out made the financing conditional: Kodak doesn't get the money unless the company's long-awaited patent sale exceeds $500M.
Kodak has finally been thrown a lifeline. Yesterday, the beleaguered photography company announced that it had convinced banks to loan it $793 million in order to climb out of bankruptcy by the first half of 2013. The loan agreement comes with one big catch: Kodak must be able to sell its extensive collection of patents for at least half a billion dollars.