Kodak files for bankruptcy protection

Eastman Kodak, the company which invented the hand-held camera, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The 133-year-old firm -- which many photographers credit with getting them into photography -- now faces a very uncertain future as it tries to restructure.

After struggling since the digital boom, Kodak recently moved away from cameras to focus on making printers and hope a future can be found for the company.

A company statement also announced Kodak has obtained a $950m, 18-month credit facility from Citigroup to give it the cash to keep going.

Antonio Perez, the chairman and chief executive, said: “Kodak is taking a significant step toward enabling our enterprise to complete its transformation.

"At the same time as we have created our digital business, we have also already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing our workforce by 47,000 since 2003.

"Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetizing non-core IP assets.

"We look forward to working with our stakeholders to emerge a lean, world-class, digital imaging and materials science company."