A consortium of bidders has offered Eastman Kodak Co. more than $500 million for a trove of digital patents, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. While a deal for the patents reportedly has not yet been reached, the bid puts the onetime photography icon a step closer to financing that could help it exit bankruptcy court. Last month, the company struck an agreement with creditors for $830 million in loans, which is premised on the condition that Kodak sells the patents for at least $500 million. The dealwhich Kodak has code named Komodo, according to bankruptcy court documentsneeds to close early next year for Kodak to get the much-needed cash. Once a Blue Chip company that employed 145,000 people worldwide at its peak in the 1980s, Kodak has endured a long slide as the rise of competitors and technological change ate into its lucrative near-monopoly on selling film. It now faces steep challenges as it tries to emerge from chapter 11 as a much smaller company with less diverse operations. To cut costs and raise cash, the company has laid off thousands of workers, negotiated to cut pension benefits and even put the camera-film business that made it a household name on the block.
