- Title: USA: POLAROID PHOTOGRAPHY CORPORATION DECLARES BANKRUPTCY
- Date: 14th October 2001
- Summary: CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS) 1. SLV POLAROID TRUCK 0.15 2. SLV POLAROID BUILDING EXTERIORS (2 SHOTS) 0.40 3. SCU POLAROID FILM ON STORE SHELF (3 SHOTS) 1.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 29th October 2001 12:00
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- Location: CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAEQFE18F9PCS4UQB6ICA7ZZDZU
- Story Text: Polaroid Corp., which revolutionized photography with
cameras that delivered instant pictures only to fall victim to
a new era of fast photos, said on Friday (October 12, 2001) it
filed for bankruptcy protection after being hounded by
creditors for not meeting debt requirements.
The company, an American icon, said its lenders have
agreed to intensify efforts to sell part or all of it.
Pressured by one-hour film developing shops and a debt load
approaching $1 billion, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, company
also suffered from the rise of digital cameras, a market it
was late in entering.
After Polaroid filed for Chapter 11 protection from
creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Chief Judge Peter Walsh
approved $13.1 million in emergency funds so the company could
meet its payroll and pay outstanding checks. The company
stopped writing checks on Oct. 5.
Meanwhile, Polaroid said, it received a $50 million
commitment from a bank group led by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co to
continue operations. The company plans to close more plants,
cut more jobs and sell businesses that are not core to its
operations to conserve a dwindling cash supply.
In recent years, Polaroid enjoyed a bit of a rejuvenation
with its I-Zone and JoyCam cameras, which appealed to
teenagers from New York to Tokyo. Analysts worried, however,
that those sales might be too faddish and eventually would
wane.
Polaroid posted a second-quarter operating loss of $52
million, including $16 million in one-time charges for
liquidating discontinued product lines. Net sales dropped to
$333.5 million from $485.6 million in the year-ago
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