AI Overview
Nikon reported massive losses for the first three quarters of FY2025, with an
operating loss of ¥98.8 billion ($~629 million) in Q3 alone. While the imaging business remained profitable, significant impairments in its Digital Manufacturing unit—specifically within Nikon SLM Solutions—and reduced revenue caused the overall downturn, leading to reduced forecasts.Key Causes for Nikon's Business Loss
- Impairment Losses: The primary driver for the financial downturn was a ¥90.6 billion ($577 million) impairment charge related to its Digital Manufacturing (3D Printing) business, specifically in goodwill and intangible assets associated with SLM Solutions.
- Intensifying Competition & Declining Demand: The company cited increased competition in the metal 3D printer market from Chinese manufacturers. The Imaging products division also saw a decline in average selling prices due to market competition.
- Macroeconomic Factors: Financials were negatively impacted by foreign exchange effects, weakening demand in China, and U.S. tariffs.
- Decreased Revenue: Overall revenue was down by 28.7 billion yen, or nearly $183 million, year-over-year for the first three quarters.
Segment Performance and Future Outlook
- Imaging Products: Despite challenges, this segment remains profitable, though overall camera and lens sales forecasts were slightly reduced from previous predictions.
- Digital Manufacturing: This unit saw lower revenue and incurred significant impairment charges, hurting the overall company performance.
- Restructuring Plans: To recover, Nikon plans to focus on improving management efficiency, reducing costs, and developing strategic products, aiming for a full recovery by fiscal year 2029.
The company is pivoting to address these losses, including legal actions to protect its lens mount system from third-party manufacturers, similar to moves made by other industry leaders.
YouTube【百年老字號危機 ... 
】日本光學巨頭 Nikon 發出虧損預警，2025 財年（截至 2026 年 3 月）將錄得高達 850 億日圓的巨額虧損，創下了該公司百年歷史上的最慘烈紀錄。由於傳統核心業務（光刻機與相機）與新興業務投資失利，Nikon 百年老字號正在快速衰落中。
】日本光學巨頭 Nikon 發出虧損預警，2025 財年（截至 2026 年 3 月）將錄得高達 850 億日圓的巨額虧損，創下了該公司百年歷史上的最慘烈紀錄。由於傳統核心業務（光刻機與相機）與新興業務投資失利，Nikon 百年老字號正在快速衰落中。Nikon 曾是全球光刻機霸主，但現在正處於技術邊緣化的困境。2002 年 TSMC 資深處長林本堅帶著浸沒式光刻機方案向 Nikon 提出合作，尋求突破乾式光刻機瓶頸，但遭時任會長吉田莊一郎拒絕，堅持 157nm 乾式光刻機，不願放棄既有投資。
結果 TSMC 轉與 ASML 合作，2004 年成功推出首款浸沒式光刻機，迅速佔領市場，錯失良機後敗局正式開始。後來在研發 EUV 極紫外光技術時，Nikon 提出「全自研、全日本產」，與 Canon 及東京電子結盟，結果搞了 10 年、耗資逾千億日圓的 EUV 項目僅產出無法商用的原型機，最終被迫終止開發。
雖然技術上落後 ASML，但其光刻機仍受到中國半導體企業歡迎。Nikon 約有 40% 光刻機是售往中國，但美國發出半導體出口管制後，Nikon 被迫放棄中國市場。結果 2025 年 Nikon 僅售出了 9 台光刻機，而同期 ASML 卻錄得 327 台。光刻機業務持續萎縮，更導致 Nikon 關閉營運 58 年的橫濱工廠。
儘管 Nikon 影像事業部（相機）依然維持盈利，但增長已陷入瓶頸。智能手機的拍攝功能不斷進步，令消費性相機市場出現嚴重萎縮。專業無反相機市場興起，Sony 和 Canon 的強力競爭使得 Nikon 必須投入更高的開發費用來維持市場份額。
2023 年 Nikon 希望進軍 3D 打印市場，高價收購了德國金屬 3D 打印巨頭 SLM Solutions，意圖將其作為繼光刻機之後的下一個增長支柱。結果面對中國廠商在 3D 打印領域的快速崛起與價格戰，該業務表現遠低於預期。Nikon 被迫對該資產進行高達 906 億日圓的一次性減值處理，直接抹平了其他部門的利潤。
因業績極度低迷，Nikon 原會長兼 CEO 馬立稔和（Toshikazu Umatate）已宣佈辭職（2026 年 4 月 1 日生效），並正計劃關閉部分工廠以及裁員。相較於 Fujifilm 成功轉型醫療與材料，Canon 轉型監控與印刷，Nikon 在「去相機化」的道路上顯得更為沉重，Nikon 百年老字號正在快速衰落中。
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《華爾街日報》(Wall Street Journal)上週報導稱﹐若出售旗下專利權組合從而增加現金流的努力失敗﹐伊士曼-柯達準備在未來幾週內尋求破產保護。
根 據新的公司架構﹐伊士曼-柯達旗下三個業務部門被削減至兩個﹐分別為商用和消費﹐這兩個部門將分別由Philip Faraci和Laura Quatela擔任首席營運長。此外﹐Faraci將繼續擔任伊士曼-柯達總裁和首席營運長﹐並將專注於企業業務。Quatela將負責個人消費業務。調 整已於1月1日生效。
Ben Fox Rubin
George Eastman 柯達照片公司快倒了... 據說柯達化學還好得很
BUSINESS
At Kodak, Workers Remember Their Moment
As Kodak prepares for a possible bankruptcy filing, its former employees worry about their retirement benefits, and recall brighter days at a company that once dominated its industry.
• Executive Departures Continue at Kodak
• Kodak Teeters on the Brink | A Long, Slow Slide
• Timeline: The History of Kodak
American inventor (1854–1932)
Eastman, who was born in Waterville, New York, began his career in banking and insurance but turned from this to photography. In 1880 he perfected the dry-plate photographic film and began manufacturing this. He produced a transparent roll film in 1884 and in the same year founded the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company. In 1888 he introduced the simple hand-held box camera that made popular photography possible. The Kodak camera with a roll of transparent film was cheap enough for all pockets and could be used by a child. It was followed by the Brownie camera, which cost just one dollar.
Eastman gave away a considerable part of his fortune to educational institutions, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He committed suicide in 1932.
****
As Kodak struggles, Eastman Chemical thrives
NEW YORK: George Eastman is best known as the inventor of photographic film and founder of Eastman Kodak Co, but his century-old legacy of entrepreneurship now rides on the lesser-known Eastman Chemical Co.
That was hardly the case in 1994, when Eastman Kodak spun off its chemicals business to help pay down debt. At that time, Kodak was still a colossus in photography whereas Eastman Chemical was a small player very much in its parent’s shadow.
But because of a sea change in digital technology and different approaches to business, Eastman Chemical’s stock market value has since increased 71 percent to $5.5 billion today, while Kodak’s has plummeted 99 percent to about $185 million.
Interviews with former executives, retirees and analysts describe two companies that were polar opposites in many ways, despite their shared heritage: where Eastman Chemical was swift to move into new markets, Kodak rested on its laurels for too long; where Chemical had a management team obsessed with the bottom line, Kodak retained cushy employee benefits even when the advent of digital cameras caused film demand to crater.
Speculation flared in September that Kodak was on the verge of bankruptcy, after the Rochester, New York-based company hired restructuring experts. Last month, Kodak warned that unless it could raise $500 million in new debt or sell some patents in its portfolio, it might not survive 2012.
“George Eastman’s legacy will be Eastman Chemical and not Eastman Kodak,” said Willy Shih, a Harvard Business School professor who ran Kodak’s digital imaging business from 1997 until 2005. “I am absolutely convinced of that.”
Eastman Chemical shares lagged Kodak’s until 2006:
link.reuters.com/myg75s
Eastman Chemical vs Kodak quarterly profits:
link.reuters.com/nyg75s
George Eastman, a high-school dropout from rural New York, founded Eastman Kodak Co in the late 1880s and built it into the world’s biggest photographic film supplier and camera maker. He patented roll film when he was 30 and quickly became a wealthy man. In 1919, he gifted one-third of his Kodak stock — worth roughly $10 million at the time — to employees.
Eastman established a chemicals subsidiary in 1920 to supply acetic acid and other photographic chemicals to Kodak, a business that grew strongly in the next 50 years, gaining many customers beyond its sibling.
After Eastman Chemical was spun off, it continued to expand and innovate by staking out new niche chemical markets, such as fibers for cigarette filters and plastic free of bisphenol A, a potential carcinogen.
Kodak, on the other hand, invented the digital camera in 1975 when one of its engineers developed a prototype that was as big as a toaster and captured black and white images.
But it failed to capitalize on that innovation, and it was only when Kodak’s film business began to decline a decade ago that it tried to catch up with rivals by launching mass-market digital cameras with the Easyshare line.
“We had something that was so good, but now it’s deteriorated to the current state of affairs,” said Bob Shanebrook, a former Kodak executive who ran the professional film business and retired in 2003. “We thought $40 per share was a ridiculously low stock price, but now it’s below a dollar.”
Kodak’s five-year credit default swaps were quoted at distressed levels earlier this month, reflecting a 92 percent chance of default on its debt in the next five years.
The city of Rochester itself seems resigned to Kodak’s fate. At one point, the company employed more than 60,000 people in the area — now, that number is closer to 7,000.
A PATERNAL HISTORY
To be sure, Eastman Chemical has been fortunate to be in an industry that has changed little compared to the technology sector, which has forced other American icons including International Business Machines Corp and Corning Inc to reinvent themselves. The type of chemical products may change, but the science of producing them does not.
Nonetheless, people familiar with both companies give Eastman Chemical credit for a corporate culture change that has helped it eschew the Kodak legacy.
In March 2009, for example, Eastman Chemical asked all employees from the CEO down to take a 5 percent pay cut to prevent widespread layoffs. The tactic worked, layoffs were averted, and the prior pay levels were restored later that year.
“We needed to understand that we were not a family; we were a team,” Brian Ferguson, who joined Eastman Chemical in 1977 and was chief executive from 2002 through 2009, said in an email. “We had difficulties dealing with these issues due to the paternal history of Kodak, which implied employment for life, benefits forever unchanging and general conflict avoidance.”
Kodak, in contrast, was much more generous with its employee benefits. Even after the decline in its business forced massive layoffs — it has 18,800 global workers today, down from 86,000 in 1998 — the company offered lucrative severance packages.
“They could have just said, ‘Thanks for coming, goodbye,’” said Shanebrook, the former Kodak executive. “Instead, they gave people at all levels separation packages based on how long they worked. They continue to provide medical coverage for retirees.”
Kodak’s U.S. pension plans, which cover 65,000 people, were underfunded by nearly $200 million at the end of 2010. The funds slipped into the red after a surplus of more than $2 billion as recently as 2008, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
When asked for comment, Kodak spokesman Gerard Meuchner said in an-email that the company has cut its post-employment benefits by two-thirds since 2005 and lowered its severance benefits from two weeks per year of service to 1.5 weeks.
CONTRASTING CEOS
The differences in Kodak and Eastman Chemical’s cultures are reflected in the management styles of their leaders. Eastman Chemical Chief Executive Jim Rogers, a former naval aviator and corporate treasurer, has a reputation for being pragmatic and low-key. Kodak CEO Antonio Perez is known for his charisma, but some of his spending decisions have raised eyebrows.
Perez’s liberal use of corporate jets has become a popular topic among Kodak pensioners on Internet message boards. Perez, who is on the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, flew with his wife in 2006 on a Kodak plane to a Super Bowl football game viewing party at the White House.
The plane was later destroyed when a hangar near Dulles International Airport collapsed after a snowstorm. Perez decided to lease another one.
In 2010, he racked up a $309,407 bill using Kodak’s jet for personal travel, according to regulatory filings. Starting in 2011, the company said Perez would have to pay out of pocket if his personal travel bill eclipsed $100,000.
Rogers, by contrast, used Eastman Chemical’s jet infrequently in 2010 for personal travel. The cost was so small — less than $10,000 — that Eastman Chemical said in filings it would not bother to report it.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Among the handful of Wall Street analysts who still follow Kodak, three advise selling the stock. By contrast, at least seven Wall Street analysts say the shares of Eastman Chemical are a good buy. StarMine, a Thomson Reuters data service that aggregates leading analysts’ expectations, believes the stock’s true value is nearly double current levels.
Earnest Deavenport, who was chief executive of Eastman Chemical when it first became independent, said the company would not have flourished if it had remained part of Kodak.
“The cash needs of the chemical group and the rest of Kodak were out of phase with each other,” Davenport said. “Kodak did not see the global expansion of the chemical group’s manufacturing base as strategic to the parent company.”
As an independent company, Eastman Chemical had to learn to compete with Dow Chemical, BASF and other global chemical giants. It never grew complacent the way Kodak did with its near-monopoly of the photographic sector.
Kodak has been hamstrung by Asian competitors that have experience making cheaper electronics. In 2010, Kodak held about 7 percent of the digital camera market, in seventh place behind Canon, Sony Corp, Nikon and others, according to research firm IDC. Its position has slipped since 2007, when it was No. 4 in U.S. digital camera sales with a 9.6 percent share.
Kodak’s spending on research and development fell 10 percent last year to $321 million. Eastman Chemical spent $152 million on research in 2010, up 23 percent from the previous year.
If Perez cannot find a way to revitalize Kodak, Rogers could soon find himself the only CEO of a company with “Eastman” in its name.
In 1932, sick and frail from a spinal disorder, George Eastman took his own life with a bullet to the heart, feeling that his legacy had been cemented by both the film and chemical businesses. He left a note, unaware that Kodak would one day fall on hard times.
“To my friends,” Eastman wrote. “My work is done. Why wait?”
Read more: http://www.lhrtimes.com/2011/12/25/as-kodak-struggles-eastman-chemical-thrives/#ixzz1ikMg3g7t
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