The $16 Billion Mistake: Kodak Buried Its Own Future

In December 1975, a Kodak engineer built the first self-contained digital camera: 8 pounds, 0.01 megapixels, 23 seconds per photo. In 1981, Kodak's own study warned that digital could replace film within about ten years. In 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy. This is how some of the smartest people in American business held the future in their hands, and still lost. Chapters 0:00 Cold open 1:05 The promise 1:52 An empire built on chemistry 3:12 The toaster in the lab 4:50 Why would anyone want this 6:08 Fifteen to twenty years 7:46 The ten-year warning 9:11 Protecting the past 10:54 The future arrives on schedule 12:36 Two numbers from 2012 14:14 Selling the future for parts 15:48 The lesson 17:36 Up next Sources IEEE ETHW Milestone, Handheld Digital Camera, 1975: https://ethw.org/Milestones:Handheld_... IEEE Spectrum (2022): https://spectrum.ieee.org/first-digit... Marketplace, The birth of the digital camera (2016): https://www.marketplace.org/2016/12/3... Deseret News (2005): https://www.deseret.com/2005/9/18/199... Chunka Mui, How Kodak Failed, Forbes (2012): https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamu... Eastman Kodak Form 10-K, fiscal 1996: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... PetaPixel, A Brief History of Kodak (2018): https://petapixel.com/2018/06/14/a-br... Rochester Business Journal timeline (2012): https://rbj.net/2012/01/19/kodaks-gro... CNNMoney (2012): https://money.cnn.com/2012/01/19/news... Engadget (2012): https://www.engadget.com/2012-01-19-k... NPR (2012): https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w... IndustryWeek (2012): https://www.industryweek.com/the-econ... The Columbian / AP (2013): https://columbian.com/news/2013/sep/0... Narration: AI-generated voice. Graphics: original. This video is an independent analysis and is not affiliated with Eastman Kodak Company, Fujifilm, Sony, Meta (Facebook/Instagram) or any other company mentioned.