Kodak (EKDKQ) Slumps as Bidding for Patent Portfolio Lacks Gusto

August 7, 2012 10:48 AM EDT Send to a Friend
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Eastman Kodak (OTCBB: EKDKQ) is getting hit Tuesday following reports that efforts to sell-off some of its intellectual property is hitting some snags.

According to the WSJ, bids for Kodak's 1,100 digital patent portfolio are below the $2.6 billion that the company said they were worth. Far below.

Leading the bidding process are groups headed by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). Initial bids are said to be between $150 million and $250 million, though those numbers could rise rapidly should one look to keep the IP out of the others hands.

One person familiar with the matter said an offer above $600 million would be viewed as "healthy." Reasoning is that the portfolio has been heavily licensed and there are no mobile-centric patents included.

Numbers for Kodak: it has a $950 million bankruptcy loan with Citi of which it drew $700 million from and wrote $114 million in letters of credit, and it had $1.3 billion of cash at the end of June.

Winning bids will be selected on August 13th. Shares of Kodak are down 27 percent on the session Tuesday.


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