[dagw]

Kodak like they were just a film company.

Kodak basically invented the modern digital camera. They made the first digital still image sensor, had the first commercially available DSLR and pretty much owned the (admittedly very small) Pro DSLR market in the early-mid 90s.

However management was scared that digital would eat into their film profits and pretty much killed their digital business.

[dralley]

The thing is that Kodak was never really a _film_ company. Or a camera company. They were a chemical company.

The lions share of their profit came from producing the chemicals and equipment used to develop the film. The digital switch wouldn't have "eaten into" their profits, it would have required a massive restructuring and refocusing of the company and they would lose most of their employees in the process.

Of course they didn't, and it happened anyway, just a few years later. I'm not saying it was a good decision, but it would have been an incredibly difficult decision to go the other way.

[kevin_thibedeau]

They spun off Eastman Chemical before digital cameras were a threat. They didn't want the liability of more superfund sites than they already have.