Jim Contineza’s first day in office eastman kodak As executive chairman in 2019, he received a call from a star Hollywood filmmaker who told him the company was making a big mistake.
The photo technology company was closing an acetate plant that produced one of the key ingredients used in film. Director Christopher Nolan, who directed such blockbuster films as “Inception” and “Oppenheimer,” appealed to Continezza to halt the process.
“He said, ‘Don’t turn this off. Look at it,’ and I did,” Continenza, now CEO, told CNBC. “He was right. I shoot 35mm (film), so I started paying attention to this film. I thought, ‘Why would one of the greatest directors of all time have this conversation?’
Mr. Continenza, a self-proclaimed “turnaround specialist,” said he quickly realized how central film was to Kodak’s roots and how it could become one of the company’s greatest strengths as he struggled to turn the company around from the brink of bankruptcy.
Almost seven years later, multiple films have been shot on Kodak film, including the 2026 Oscar-winning film “One Battle After Another” and “The Thinners.” This is part of a larger trend as the category is being revived by both Hollywood movie nostalgia and younger consumers.
However, the path was not smooth. The company declared bankruptcy in 2012, but resurfaced a year later. And the company warned last year that its financial condition “raises serious doubts about Kodak’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
In its second-quarter financial results, which issued a going concern statement, Kodak took on millions of dollars in debt and saw gross profit decline 12%.
But Continenza said this is one step in a long process to rebuild the company toward its former success.
Kodak CEO Jim Continenza speaks on stage at the Kodak Film Awards at the ASC Clubhouse on March 2, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
Rodin Eckenroth | Getty Images
The company’s earnings report last month was a different story. Fourth quarter gross profit reached $67 million, an increase of 31% year over year. Kodak also announced that it has reduced its annual interest expense by approximately $40 million.
Continenza said at the time that the results were a reflection of the long-term plan it began implementing in 2019. He told CNBC that he chose Kodak as the last company he would turn around before ending his time as an executive. He has previously held leadership roles at the following telecommunications companies: AT&T And Lucent.
“This is our goal. We are creating jobs for the next generation. Don’t get me wrong, we are rebuilding this company and putting it on a stable footing and laying the foundation for all of our systems to grow,” Continenza said. “I didn’t put in what I needed, I put in what I wanted. That’s the difference.”
problematic waters
Kodak has struggled to maintain its position and relevance in a digitally evolving society.
The company received bankruptcy protection in 2012 after failing to improve its finances as digital photography took off and revolutionized the industry. When it re-emerged as a smaller company the following year, it shifted its primary focus to commercial printing.
Although the company is no longer a big deal for investors, Ben Reitz, an analyst at Melius Research, wrote in a note last year that the advent of digital technology was a big setback for Kodak.
“At the time, Kodak executives told us that as film coexisted with digital cameras and more photos were being taken, Kodak would need to print more photos,” he wrote.
Still, Kodak faced an uphill battle. The company’s stock price fell more than 35% in 2014 and continued to decline steadily over the next several years, hitting an all-time low of $1.55 per share at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
Last August, the more than 100-year-old photography company announced it had about $155 million in cash and about $600 million in loans.
A Kodak spokesperson said at the time that going concern language had to be included because Kodak did not have sufficient liquidity to repay debt that was due within 12 months. Still, the company said it was confident it could pay off a significant portion of the loan early by terminating the pension plan, and said the disclosure was merely a required technical report.
Wall Street investors didn’t like their story. The stock price plummeted from about $7 per share a few days earlier to just over $5 per share on earnings day.
“For us, this was not such a dire situation, it was a GAAP accounting coincidence by date, so we could have handled it better,” Contineza said, adding that it was a “timing issue” of the loan.
A roll of Kodak Gold film is displayed on a shelf at a Precision Camera & Video store in Austin, Texas, on August 12, 2025.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Contineza said Kodak’s main challenges are its “huge debt” and poor communication with shareholders and customers.
The CEO said he never sold any Kodak stock and bought the stock after the company made its going concern disclosure.
“You have to make long-term investments and efforts, you have to be methodical, but you have to improve your operations. I spent seven years on it,” he said. “(The company) is over 130 years old, right? You can imagine what’s in the attic.”
definition of success
Continenza said he has intentionally introduced long-term changes since taking over the company. He replaced about 90% of the company’s management team, paid down more than $400 million in debt, and reorganized the company’s priorities to focus on printed materials, advanced materials and chemicals.
He also said it was important to be “transparent” with his team, acknowledging that the company’s turnaround would mean layoffs and changes in staffing.
“The first thing I always do is get the people who want to keep the company together and buy them out. That’s what we did,” he said. “We have a board of directors and investors who like what we’re doing. We keep them informed and they guide us.”
Continenza said as he looked at what worked for the company, he saw an opportunity in Gen Z and the resurgence of movie aesthetics. The look of photographs and videos shot on film captures something that “penetrates the heart and soul of a person,” he said.
Kodak leaned into the analog and reliability trends and invested its resources in the capabilities of film, creating a product that would be of interest to consumers, directors, and filmmakers alike.
Continenza also said he refinanced the company three times to right-size its balance sheet.
Wall Street appears to be on target. Over the past year, Kodak stock has increased almost 100%.
Kodak 1 year chart
“We’re doing our job,” he said. “The stock price shouldn’t skyrocket, it should creep up. Because that’s how we grow.” “I don’t look at stock prices. I don’t care. I don’t know what stock prices are today. I’m a long-term investor.”
Continenza said success for him means continuing to improve finances and ensuring Kodak has a solid succession plan in place to continue to grow.
Although the company is well over 100 years old, he said he likes to treat Kodak as a start-up, with all debts paid off, the brand widely loved and the only person who can “ruin it” at this point being Kodak itself.
“We don’t need to be a $5 billion, $20 billion, $80 billion company,” Contineza said. “We’re a billion-dollar global company, and one of the things we strive for is our brand recognition. And without a doubt, we’re loved and loved all over the world, and that will continue to be the case.”
