Why Kodak Really Failed (It's Not What You Think)

On January 19, 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy. The company was 131 years old. In 1997 it had been worth $31 billion; it once employed 145,300 people. And here's the twist: the first self-contained, handheld digital camera was built in 1975 by a Kodak engineer, Steven Sasson, inside a Kodak lab. So why did Kodak fall? The answer is in the slogan George Eastman wrote in 1888: "You press the button, we do the rest." Kodak was never really selling film. It was selling the moment. When the moment moved from film to digital and then to phones, people kept pressing the button, but Kodak was no longer doing the rest. This is the story of a bank clerk's kitchen experiments, the one-dollar Brownie, the Polaroid and Fujifilm wars, the digital camera Kodak built but couldn't profit from, the bankruptcy, and the smaller Kodak that is still here today. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Rochester, 2012: the bankruptcy 1:19 The Bank Clerk 2:44 You Press the Button 4:18 The Empire 5:42 The Filmless Camera 7:16 The Rivals 8:29 Going Digital 10:01 The Fall 11:29 Still Developing 13:18 Epilogue: We Do the Rest 🎨 Real people are shown as respectful cartoon interpretations. Music is original AI-generated music made with Artlist. This video is an independent documentary and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Eastman Kodak Company, Kodak Alaris, or any other company mentioned. Product and company names are used for identification only. #Kodak #BusinessHistory #DigitalCamera #CompanyHistory #Documentary