Opening bids for Eastman Kodak Co.'s digital patents came in far below the $2.6 billion the company said that they could be worth, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Kodak received two bids from investor groups pitting Silicon Valley giants Apple Inc. and Google Inc. against each other ahead of an auction set for Wednesday. The bids from the two teams came in around $150 million to $250 million. The low starting offers mean Kodak will need the consortiums to be extra aggressive if it is to reap enough to repay creditors and have some left over for reorganizing its operations. At a bankruptcy court hearing in January, a lawyer for Kodak said that the company thought the patents were worth $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion. Read more. (Subscription required):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100008723963904435171045775735513867181…
In related news, Judge Allan L. Gropper yesterday cleared Eastman Kodak Co. to pay up to $4.5 million in bonuses to 12 top executives and senior managers, along with a one-time cash payment of up to $1.5 million to its chief operating officer, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Co-President and Chief Operating Officer Laura G. Quatela can earn between $600,000 and $1.5 million based on how much money Kodak raises in an upcoming auction of its patent portfolio and how quickly such a sale closes. Read more:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2012/08/06/judge-clears-kodak-to-…