Kodak moment: Click, no smiles here

by Mark Silva

Here's a Kodak moment:

Eastman Kodak said today that it is cutting 3,500 to 4,500 jobs -- 14 to 18 percent of its already pared work force, following the posting of a $137 million fourth-quarter loss.

The people who brought us the Brownie and the Instamatic and made photographers of all Americans - even while attempting to keep pace with the modern transition from film to digital cameras - are struggling to stay afloat.

Converting the bulk of its 129-year-old business from film to more competitive electronic technology cost Kodak $3.4 billion from 2004 through 2007. It already had chopped its global work force from 64,000 to 24,400 at the end of 2008.

"The second half of 2008 will go down in history as one of the most challenging periods we have seen in decades," Kodak's chief executive, Antonio Perez, said in a statement issued today.

On Wednesday, Perez joined the CEOs of several other big companies - Motorola, Google, IBM, Honeywell and others -- assembled in the Roosevelt Room of the White House to meet with President Barack Obama, as the business leaders lent their support to the president's push for an economic stimulus plan. That plan won the House's approval on Wednesday, without a single Republican vote, and Obama is demanding a bill that he can sign before President's Day.

"I met with some of the leading business executives in the country,'' Obama said after that meeting at the White House. "Iit was a sober meeting because these companies and the workers they employ are going through times more trying than any we've seen in a long, long while.

"Just the other day, seven of our largest corporations announced they were making major job cuts. Some of the business leaders in this room have had to do the same. And yet, even as we discussed the seriousness of this challenge, we left our meeting confident that we can turn our economy around.

"But each of us, as they've indicated, are going to have to do our share,'' the president said. "Part of what led our economy to this perilous moment was a sense of irresponsibility that prevailed in Wall Street and in Washington, and that's why I called for a new era of responsibility in my Inaugural Address last week -- an era where each of us chips in so that we can climb our way out of this crisis; executives and factory floor workers, educators and engineers, health care professionals and elected officials.

"As we discussed in our meeting a few minutes ago, corporate America will have to accept its own responsibilities to its workers and the American public,'' Obama said. "But these executives also understand that without wise leadership in Washington, even the best-run businesses can't do as well as they might.

"They understand that what makes an idea sound is not whether it's Democratic or Republican, but whether it makes good economic sense for their workers and companies. And they understand that when it comes to rebuilding our economy, we don't have a moment to spare.''

Click.

Hold that thought.

No smiles here.