end of polaroid ?

[d_g]

i've just read in a french magazine call "paris photo" n16 page55,

that the Polaroïd company are in difficulties, any comments ?

[michael_veit]

"in difficulties" is an understatement:

 

<p>

 

Tuesday October 9 5:05 PM ET

 

<p>

 

Polaroid Share Fall on Bankruptcy Worries

 

<p>

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Polaroid Corp.(NYSE:PRD - news) fell

more than 30 percent on Tuesday amid persistent concerns that the

troubled instant photography company might soon possibly seek

bankruptcy protection from its creditors, analysts said.

 

<p>

 

Shares of Polaroid, once a member of the ``Nifty 50'' cadre of fast-

growing companies with great potential, tumbled to a low of 28 cents

a share, off more than 30 percent from Monday's close and far from

its 52-week high of $13.12.

 

<p>

 

Polaroid has said very little since August when, in a federal filing,

it stated that its creditors have the right ``to sue the company to

collect interest that is accrued and unpaid when due and payable.''

 

<p>

 

Polaroid spokesman Skip Colcord declined to comment on the status of

the negotiations with creditors, and noted that the company will

report its third-quarter operations Oct. 18.

 

<p>

 

``We don't have any announcements to make at this time,'' he said.

 

<p>

 

Talk of bankruptcy has been rife for months around Cambridge,

Massachusetts-based Polaroid, which owes some $600 million to holders

of its bonds and about $350 million to two groups of banks.

 

<p>

 

In July and August it missed interest payments, and is currently in

talks with some of the bondholders, even as it looks to sell assets

to raise cash. If those talks fail, the bondholders could force

Polaroid to seek bankruptcy protection, analysts said.

 

<p>

 

While there exists a likelihood that bankruptcy of some kind may be

in Polaroid's future, no new developments had arisen today, analysts

said.

 

<p>

 

``They are just repeating what has been said before,'' said Ulysses

Yannas, analyst at analyst at Buckman Buckman & Reid, referring to

recent media reports. ``There is no news.''

 

<p>

 

Analysts predict Polaroid's third-quarter revenues could fall more

than 20 percent from a year ago as the deterioration of its core

business is compounded by the affects of the Sept. 11 attack on New

York and Washington.

[david_goldfarb]

Meanwhile, the current issue of _View Camera_ magazine features

Polaroid materials.

[alec1]

I think they filed for bankruptcy this morning. However, its only a

reorganization which gives them further time to work their way out of

problems. Don't count them out yet. So far they still have bank

credits - just too many debts and insufficient income. They'll still

be around for a long time, but undoubtedly their product line will

shrink.

[jim_chinn1]

In the current economic climate it is almost inevitable that Polaroid

will either declare bankruptcy or be bought by another imaging

company. I believe we will soon see the elimination of most Polaroid

products not related to digital imaging. Commercial shooters are

moving to the use of digital to serve the same function as Polaroid

for proofing, exposure tests, checking lighting, compositions etc. I

notice more and more articles in Photo District News on this subject

and I beleive there was a recent article in Camera Arts discussing

how to use a digital camera in tandem with your view camera as an aid

in composition and extablishing exposure. Digital may not be able to

replace the unique quality of a 20x24 Polaroid print, but the company

can't survive on that alone. I don't think I would be buying one of

the 20x24 cameras with Polaroid back at this time, even if I could

afford it.

[andrea_milano]

Polaroid is a huge concern whose revenues come frome different sources,

one of them being the photographic one. The market of instant

photography is a very special one, we paid for years huge prices just

because Polaroid was ....Polaroid, the other sectors, not last the

digital one, are under huge price and market pressure.

I trust Polaroid to survive this one too!

Good luck

[william_mitchell]

FWIW: CNBC' s Mark Faber this morning suggested that Polaroid would

be filing for bankruptcy protection.

BILL

[thomas_douglass]

All transactions of their shares were frozen on the market today.

Due to "imminent" chapter 11. I've read, from a couple reports that

they may file for bankruptcy as early as tomorrow.

[michael_mahoney1]

Unfortunately bankruptcy seems imminent for Polaroid, debt

restructuring seems unlikely as there is almost one billion U.S. in

debt, and their bonds are trading at less than ten cents to the

dollar. So Polaroid as we know it in all likelihood won�t exist much

longer. Lets hope another company is able to obtain the rights to

continuing the Polaroid photography product line. Having said that,

if I used Polaroid products, I�d be ordering as much as I could, as

future supplies are doubtful.

[dk_thompson]

That may be hard to do....most of the sheet films, 55 etc. are only

made with about a 9 month lead time on the expiration date (I know

this from state contracts...we like a year's lead time at a

minimum)....The sheet films don't perform well after the exp. date

either, and are tough to store as well since you can't freeze

them...so don't go panic buying just yet.....I've got my finger's

crossed that someone will see the market for at least some of their

products.

[joshroot]

I seriously doubt that all instant film products will disappear from

the market. Even if Polaroid itself were to cease to exist, somone

would buy the rights to produce the films, as some of them obviously

are still moneymakers. The number of available types of film may

shrink and/or the prices may rise. But knowing how many pro shooters

still go through boxes and boxes of polaroid each day they shoot, I

wouldn't start to freak out about lack of future supply just yet.