business: Kodak sad story

what will be "Kodak-like" AI affected companies? 

Google fits almost exact same patten: "invented" much of modern AI but didn't use
until being forced by competition... Microsoft, Salesforce, leveraging but not really driving new solutions, incremental vs exponential improvements. Market and business can be brutal even on best of companies... 

Kodak - Wikipedia

digital reality... 

How Just One Camera Destroyed Kodak Forever - YouTube

The Rise and Fall of Eastman Kodak

This documentary explores the spectacular collapse of Eastman Kodak, once a global titan that dominated the photography industry for most of the 20th century.

Peak Dominance

• In 1976, Kodak controlled 90% of the film market and 85% of the camera market in the United States.
• The company was a Dow Jones Industrial Average component for 74 consecutive years.
• At its peak, it employed 145,000 people globally, with 60,000 workers concentrated in its base city of Rochester, New York.
• The company enjoyed a massive 70% gross margin on film products, which created a powerful disincentive to innovate away from their core revenue stream.

The Missed Future

• In 1975, Kodak engineer Steven Sasson invented the world's first digital camera. Despite filing a patent for the technology, management famously dismissed the invention as "cute" and prioritized protecting their lucrative film business.
• Internal reports as early as 1979 and 1981 correctly predicted that digital photography would eventually render film obsolete, but these warnings were largely ignored by leadership.

Strategic Missteps and Bankruptcy

• Kodak attempted to diversify into pharmaceuticals with the $5.1 billion acquisition of Sterling Drug, which resulted in a massive loss of value.
• The company suffered a major legal blow in 1991 when it lost a patent battle against Polaroid, forcing it to recall millions of instant cameras.
• By the time Kodak pivoted to digital cameras, they were decades behind competitors. Even when their "EasyShare" cameras became best-sellers, the company lost money on each unit sold.
• In 2012, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, causing thousands of retirees to lose their healthcare benefits and leading to the demolition of historic manufacturing plants in Rochester.

The Aftermath

• The company famously sold its groundbreaking OLED patent portfolio for $100 million in 2009—a technology now powering nearly every modern smartphone and television screen worth billions annually.
• While Fujifilm successfully navigated the digital transition by pivoting into cosmetics and healthcare, Kodak's rigid adherence to its original business model ultimately led to its historic industrial decline.