History

April 1880

George Eastman leased the third floor of a building on State Street in Rochester N.Y. and began the commercial manufacture of dry plates.

September 4, 1888

Eastman registered the trademark Kodak.

1888

The first model of the Kodak camera appeared. It took round pictures 6.4 cm (2.5 in) in diameter, was of the fixed focus type, and carried a roll of film enough for 100 exposures. Its invention practically marked the advent of amateur photography, as before that time both apparatus and processes were too burdensome to classify photography as recreation.

1889

The Eastman Company was formed.

1891

George Eastman began to produce a second line of cameras, the Ordinary range.

1892

It was renamed the Eastman Kodak Company in 1892. Eastman Kodak Company of New York was organized. He coined the advertising slogan, "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest." The Kodak company thereby attained its name from the first simple roll film cameras produced by Eastman Dry Plate Company, known as the "Kodak" in its product line.

1897

The first folding pocket Kodak camera was introduced, and was mentioned in the novel Dracula, published the same year.

1900

The Brownie camera was introduced, creating a new mass market for photography.

By 1920

An "Autographic Feature" provided a means for recording data on the margin of the negative at the time of exposure. This feature was supplied on all Kodak cameras with the exception of a box camera designed for making panoramic pictures and was discontinued in 1932.

1930

Eastman Kodak Company was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average index on July 18, 1930. The company remained listed as one of the DJIA companies for the next 74 years, ending in 2004.

1940–1944

Eastman Kodak ranked 62nd among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.

1934–1956

Kodak introduces the Retina Series 35mm Camera

1958

Kodak releases an adhesive called Eastman #910. To the public, it is known as Super Glue.

1959

Kodak introduced the Starmatic camera, the first automatic Brownie camera, which sold 10 million units over the next five years.

1975

Steven Sasson, then an electrical engineer at Kodak, invented a digital camera.

1976

The Bayer Pattern color filter array (CFA) was invented by Eastman Kodak researcher Bryce Bayer. The order in which dyes are placed on an image sensor photosite is still in use today. The basic technology is still the most commonly used of its kind to date.

1976

Kodak introduced the first Kodamatic, instant picture cameras, using a similar film and technology to that of the Polaroid company.

1976

The company sold 90% of the photographic film in the US along with 85% of the cameras.

1981

Kodak was sued by Polaroid for infringement of its Instant Picture patents. The suit ran for five years, the court finally finding in favour of Polaroid in 1986.

1986

Kodak scientists created the world's first megapixel sensor, capable of recording 1.4 million pixels and producing a photo-quality 12.5 cm × 17.5 cm (4.9 in × 6.9 in) print.

1987

Ching W. Tang, a senior research associate, and his colleague, Steven Van Slyke, developed the first multi-layer OLEDs at the Kodak Research Laboratories, for which he later became a Fellow of the Society for Information Display (SID)

1991

The Kodak Professional Digital Camera System or DCS, the first commercially available digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera. A customized camera back bearing the digital image sensor was mounted on a Nikon F3 body and released by Kodak in May; the company had previously shown the camera at photokina in 1990.

1993

Eastman Chemical, a Kodak subsidiary founded by George Eastman in 1920 to supply Kodak's chemical needs, was spun off as a separate corporation. Eastman Chemical became a Fortune 500 company in its own right.

1994

Apple Quicktake, a consumer digital camera was debuted by Apple Computer. Some models were manufactured by Kodak.

2003

Kodak introduced the Kodak EasyShare LS633 Digital Camera, the first camera to feature an AMOLED display, and the Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock 6000, the world's first printer-and-camera dock combination.

November 2003

Kodak acquired the Israel-based company Algotec Systems, a developer of advanced picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), which enable radiology departments to digitally manage and store medical images and information.

January 2004

Kodak announced that it would stop selling traditional film cameras in Europe and North America, and cut up to 15,000 jobs (around a fifth of its total workforce at the time).

January 2005

The Kodak EasyShare-One Digital Camera, the world's first Wi-Fi consumer digital camera capable of sending pictures by email, was unveiled at the 2005 CES.

January 2006

Kodak unveiled the Kodak EasyShare V570 Dual Lens Digital Camera, the world's first dual-lens digital still camera and smallest ultra-wide-angle optical zoom digital camera, at the CES. Using proprietary Kodak Retina Dual Lens technology, the V570 wrapped an ultra-wide angle lens (23 mm) and a second optical zoom lens (39 – 117 mm) into a body less than 2.5 cm (an inch) thick.

January 10, 2007

Kodak agreed to sell Kodak Health Group to Onex Corporation for $2.35 billion in cash, and up to $200 million in additional future payments if Onex achieved specified returns on the acquisition. The sale was completed May 1. Kodak used part of the proceeds to fully repay its approximately $1.15 billion of secured term debt. Around 8,100 employees transferred to Onex, and Kodak Health Group was renamed Carestream Health. Kodak Health Group had revenue of $2.54 billion for the 12 months to September 30, 2006.

September 4, 2007

Kodak announced a five-year extension of its partnership with Lexar Media.

November 2008

Kodak released the Kodak Theatre HD Player, allowing photos and videos stored on a computer to be displayed on an HDTV. Kodak licensed technology from Hillcrest Labs for the interface and pointer, which allowed a user to control the player with gestures.

January 2009

Kodak posted a $137 million fourth-quarter loss and announced plans to cut up to 4,500 jobs.

June 22, 2009

Kodak announced that it would cease selling Kodachrome color film by the end of 2009, ending 74 years of production, after a dramatic decline in sales. This went along with Kodak ceasing operation of the division of Qualex that did film development for retail and commercial customers.

December 2010

Standard & Poor's removed Kodak from its S&P 500 index.

September 2011

Kodak hired law firm Jones Day for restructuring advice and its stock dropped to an all-time low of $0.54 a share. During 2011, Kodak shares fell more than 80 percent.

January 19, 2012

Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company's stock was delisted from NYSE and moved to OTC exchange. Following the news it ended the day trading down 35% at $0.36 a share.

February 9, 2012

Kodak announced that it would exit the digital image capture business, phasing out its production of digital cameras. Kodak sees home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging with GlobalVision software integrated, as the core of its future business. Once the digital camera business is phased out, Kodak said its consumer business will focus on printing. It will seek a company to license its EasyShare digital camera brand.

August 24, 2012

Kodak announced that it plans to sell its film, commercial scanner and kiosk divisions.

September 10, 2012

Kodak announced plans to cut another 1,000 jobs by the end of 2012 and that it is examining further job cuts as it works to restructure its business in bankruptcy.

September 28, 2012

Kodak announced that it is exiting the inkjet printer business.

December 20, 2012

Kodak announced that it plans to sell its digital imaging patents for about $525 million to some of the world's biggest technology companies, thus making a step to end bankruptcy.

September 3, 2013

Kodak announces that it has emerged from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection as a company focused on serving commercial customers.

July 30, 2014

Kodak is negotiating with movie studios for an annual movie film order guarantee to preserve the last source of movie film manufacturing in the United States.

December 2014

Kodak announced its first phone, the Kodak Ektra smartphone made by Bullitt Group. The phone was expected to become available in December 2016, initially in Europe.

January 2017

Kodak announced it was bringing back its Ektachrome film.

July 28, 2020

The Trump administration announced that it planned to give Kodak a $765 million loan for manufacturing ingredients used in pharmaceuticals, in order to rebuild the national stockpile depleted by the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce dependency on foreign factories. Within two days, the company's stock price had gained as much as 2,189% from its price at the close of July 27 on the NYSE.