Kodak bankrupt

Long ago I inherited small amounts of a few stocks from my great uncle. Over the years their fortunes have varied. The one that did worst was Eastman Kodak which last week filed for bankruptcy after years of decline. My investment wasn't actually a total loss (although I expect the shareholders will receive nothing in any reorganization) as Kodak had paid a dividend for many years and also spun off Eastman Chemical which while not doing so terrific itself isn't bankrupt. Still not one of my better investments.

While it is of course difficult when your main product dies it is a bit hard to believe that better management couldn't have salvaged something. It is a little hard for me to understand why the current CEO still his job.

Kodak should have had plenty of warning, while the early digital cameras were expensive and not very good their problems were clearly fixable while film was a mature technology without much upside potential. Which brings me to the subject of the Kindle Touch e-reader which I received for Christmas. I like it a lot despite an annoying user interface. The problems seem fixable and I expect over time that e-books will dominate the market.