Kodak today sold its sensor business to a company that buys distressed assets, Platinum Equity. The amount of sale was not disclosed, but Kodak last week was looking for US$500 million in financing in order to continue operations. Ironically, Kodak announced some new CCDs today (e.g., 16mp full frame with some unique properties) but that news got buried by the sale announcement.
Meanwhile, the Olympus scandal took a dark, nasty twist when the company today announced that the US$1.3 billion in deals that were challenged by the new and now former CEO were actually the result of funneling money to cover losses on security investments the company had made as much as 20 years ago. Essentially, Olympus has now admitted that they made false entries that cover an almost 20-year accounting period, which is simply stunning, both in size and scope. The stock immediately plummetted further--now losing almost 70% its value from before the scandal started to unfold--putting Olympus into the possibility of being delisted on the Nikkei, or at least suspended for trading.
One very real issue for Olympus is whether there is anyone in higher management that can now escape blame. If this was done with board knowledge, that's bad. If it was done without board knowledge, that's worse. The way Japanese company boards are made is almost exclusively from inside executives, including the current CEO (third this month), who was on the board when these deals were done.
Bottom line: two of photography's long-term players are in dire straits at the moment.