The Lowballing of Kodak's Patent Portfolio - IEEE Spectrum:
In January 2012, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
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Kodak portfolio of patents experts valued as high as US $4.5 billion.
"Eleven months later, those roughly 1700 patents (together with 655 patent applications) sold for just $94 million—less than the licensing fees Kodak had collected in its worst-ever year in recent history.
What’s more, the company licensed its remaining 20 000 patents to a dozen leading technology companies for only $433 million, severely restricting future earnings from them."
Kodak’s original auction for its 1700 imaging and printing patents attracted over 20 possible bidders. However, the strongest purchasers formed two consortia, led by patent aggregators Intellectual Ventures and RPX. Neither consortium’s bid was high enough to allow Kodak to escape Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Along with three smaller companies, the consortia then merged into a superconsortium whose members dominate the digital world in the 21st century. Its final bid was successful.
