Kodak paid off $400M and bet on film's comeback — the stock doubled in a year
Jim Continenza rebuilt Kodak around its roots — film, print, advanced materials — cut interest costs by $40M a year and left a going-concern warning behind.
What was changed
On Jim Continenza's first day as Eastman Kodak's executive chairman in 2019, director Christopher Nolan called: the company was about to shut the acetate factory that makes a key ingredient of film. 'Do not turn this off,' Continenza recalls him urging. The self-described turnaround specialist took the look — and decided film, Kodak's roots, could be one of its biggest strengths. Roughly seven years later, multiple 2026 Oscar-winning movies, including 'One Battle After Another' and 'Sinners', were shot on Kodak film, part of a resurgence fueled by Hollywood nostalgia and younger consumers.
The base was rotten. Kodak went into bankruptcy in 2012 after missing digital photography's turn, re-emerged a year later focused on commercial printing, and watched its stock hit an all-time low of $1.55 in March 2020. In August 2025 it warned that its finances raised 'substantial doubt about Kodak's ability to continue as a going concern' — about $155 million of cash against nearly $600 million of loans, after a 12% drop in quarterly gross profit. Continenza called it a timing crunch to be fixed partly by terminating the pension plan, and bought stock himself.
The playbook since 2019: change about 90% of the leadership, pay off more than $400 million of debt, refinance three times, and refocused on print plus advanced materials and chemicals while investing in film capacity. By early 2026 the numbers turned: fourth-quarter gross profit of $67 million, up 31% year on year, annual interest expense reduced by roughly $40 million, and a stock up nearly 100% over the past year. 'We're a billion-dollar global company, but one thing we have going for us is our brand recognition,' Continenza says — run 'as a startup' now that only Kodak could 'screw it up.'
Why it worked
The acetate-factory call forced a re-read of the assets: film demand from A-list directors and Gen Z was real, so capacity became a moat instead of scrap.
Debt came first — more than $400M paid down and three refinancings cut interest by about $40M a year, buying time for the operating plan.
Replacing about 90% of leadership broke the printing-era inertia that had missed digital photography decades earlier.
Buying stock after the going-concern disclosure put his own money behind the claim that it was a GAAP timing issue, not a death sentence.
What can be applied
When a 130-year-old company is collapsing, the fastest way back can be the heritage everyone assumed was dead — if a long-term owner can hold through the going-concern headlines.
Aftermath
Kodak is a stable billion-dollar company rather than a growth rocket; Continenza shrugs at the share price ('it's not supposed to spike, it's supposed to crawl') and defines success as continued financial improvement plus a solid succession plan. The going-concern language of August 2025 gave way within months to a 31% gross-profit jump, and Oscar winners shot on Kodak stock have made film the brand's loudest proof of life.