Eastman Kodak extended its patent auction o n M onday, saying
it would not announce a winner as planned because it was still in
discussions with bidders.
Kodak, which filed for bankruptcy in
January, said in a statement that the auction is ongoing. It declined to
comment further, citing confidentiality agreements.
A spokeswoman
for the company declined to comment on the length of the extension. The
company said it expected later o n Mo nday to submit regulatory filings
revealing more information about its business, including financial
projections.
Kodak, which has lost more than $600 million so far
this year, began an auction of 1,100 digital patents last Wednesday. It
had been scheduled to designate a winner on Monday ahead of a Manhattan
Federal Bankruptcy court hearing on August 20.
The company, a
photography pioneer that has been unable to adapt to the shift to
digital imaging, would use the money from the sale to pay back
investors. It has borrowed nearly $700 million in bankruptcy financing.
It
is unclear how much the patent sale will raise. The Wall Street Journal
reported o n F riday that Apple Inc , Google Inc and Microsoft Corp
made bids, but they were significantly below Kodak's estimates for the
patents' value. Kodak said early in 2012 that an outside firm had
estimated the value of the portfolio at $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion.
Kodak's
digital patents were grouped into two lots - one of 700 patents and
another of 400. They have been for sale for more than a year, but the
sale was complicated by the bankruptcy and lawsuits over the ownership
and authenticity of the patents. It is in the midst of litigation with
several companies, including Apple, Samsung and Research in Motion Ltd .
Kodak
has said it wants to be out of bankruptcy by early 2013. To stick to
that timeline, it will need to present a bankruptcy reorganization plan
this fall.
The latest information released by Kodak about its
post-bankruptcy plans came in January, when it said that document
scanners and digital plates were among its core businesses and that it
anticipated growth in the consumer inkjet and digital printing sectors.
Other
businesses it said were no longer core were Kodak Gallery, an online
photo sharing business it sold earlier this year, and entertainment
imaging and intellectual property.
The company also needs to
tackle costs. Kodak has 56,000 U.S. retirees whose health and other
benefits, like life insurance, have not yet been negotiated in
bankruptcy court.
The case is in Re: Eastman Kodak Co. et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-10202.
Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012
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