At Kodak, Clinging to a Future Beyond Film

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/business/at-kodak-clinging-to-a-future-beyond-film.html#




Of the roughly 200 buildings that once stood on the 1,300-acre campus of Eastman Kodak’s business park in Rochester, 80 have been demolished and 59 others sold off. Terry Taber, bespectacled, 60, and a loyal Kodak employee of 34 years, still works in one of the remaining Kodak structures, rubble from demolition not far from its doors.

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A micromanager to rival Apple’s Steve Jobs, Eastman found time in the middle of an antitrust investigation to badger underlings about Kodak’s rubber bands. He hired detectives to check on the loyalty of his salesmen. He also gave workers a theater that showed free movies to each of the three daily work shifts.

In 1932, his health failing, Eastman discussed numerous poisons with his doctor and had the physician outline on his chest the location of his heart. In the end, the 77-year-old chose a Luger, leaving behind a note that read, “My work is done — Why wait?”

Eastman’s paternalistic legacy lasted decades after his suicide. Kodak’s yellow-and-red logo was on free backpacks at the Rochester Little League, free floats at the town pool, free lunchboxes and tote bags. Unlike Google, Kodak didn’t transport employees on private buses. People bought cars using guaranteed annual bonuses.

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A good and long read