Local Companies Among Kodak's Creditors

A judge gives Kodak the green light to borrow part of $950 million loan from Citigroup.   Kodak has nearly $7 billion dollars in debt with assets of about $5 billion.  Some of the debt is with local companies.  Optimation Technology of Rochester is one of Kodak's 50 largest creditors.  Optimation designs, constructs and maintains Kodak's manufacturing equipment.  "We made the decision we were going to keep supporting them.  So, now we have to live with the consequences," said Bill Pollock, CEO.  Kodak owes Optimation nearly $2 million.  "The amount of money is a big percentage of our annual profit.  So, basically you take all your profit from last year.  Does that hurt a company? Absolutely," said Pollock.

A bankruptcy court will ultimately decide how much Kodak will have to pay each creditor.  Typically it's a percentage of every dollar owed.  "There are secured creditors to unsecured creditors.  There is different criteria for how they are dealt with," said Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy.   Duffy is hoping companies will stick with Kodak through the restructuring process.  "There are a lot of unknowns and question that have to be answered, but I think Antonio Perez understands that and the impacts it has,"  said Duffy.

The bankruptcy filing freezes payment on money owed.   However, from this point on companies like Optimation should get paid on time.  Pollock says he won't have to lay off any employees.  His company will continue to do business with Kodak.  "Kodak is made up of a bunch of great people who are really trying to do their job and maybe there were some errors in judgement," said Pollock.  "It certainly doesn't reflect on the whole company."