Eastman Kodak has announced that the company has agreed to sell its online photo gallery services to Shutterfly, another web-based photo service provider. The struggling photography and print giant made the announcement of the $23.8 million deal after the close of markets on Thursday.
The deal comes as part of a court-supervised auction process for various assets of the Eastman Kodak Company, which filed for bankruptcy in January. The company has $6.75 billion in debts owed to more than 100,000 parties.
Last month, Kodak announced that it would exit the camera business entirely, and would instead license its brand name out to other manufacturers as a way to bring in more revenue. In that announcement, when Kodak states it would restructure to focus on the printing industry, representatives also said it would remain in the online gallery business. The company did not state whether it chose to auction off the division or if it was mandated by the court.
In addition to the online gallery auction, Kodak will also begin selling off 1,100 digital patents valued at up to $3 billion. Those patents are estimated to account for 10 percent of all patents owned by the pioneering film company.
Representatives from Kodak said that the sales is part of plans to make the company a smaller, but more efficient and profitable business.
“This sale is consistent with our objective of focusing Kodak on a core set of businesses in which we can most profitably leverage our technology and brand strengths, and provides a well-proven mechanism for ensuring that Kodak receives maximum value from these assets,” said Pradeep Jotwani, president of consumer businesses and chief marketing officer for Kodak.
