Kodak announces entry into pharmaceutical industry, stock price surges over 1000% with numerous trading halts!

Once a pioneer in the field of photography, Eastman Kodak Co., which has been facing bankruptcy rumors since 2011 and officially filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012, has not come to an end. It has undergone multiple transformations, including venturing into blockchain technology. Recently, the company announced its entry into the pharmaceutical industry. Interestingly, each high-profile transformation announcement has led to a significant surge in its stock price.

Entering the Pharmaceutical Industry, Stock Price Surges

According to the announcement from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) here, after securing a $765 million loan approved and supported by the government, the traditional film company "Kodak" declared its transformation and entry into the pharmaceutical industry.

Following the news, Kodak's stock price surged from $2.1 to a high of $33.2 within a few days, reaching $29.8 at the time of publication.

However, the announcement was made on the 28th, but Kodak's stock price started rising gradually since the 24th. Shareholdings by users on the popular U.S. investment platform Robinhood surged over 1200% compared to the previous week. In response to this, Kodak's CEO James Continenza emphasized to CNBC on Wednesday (29th) here:

We are excited about the loan, but until the last day of the announcement, we treated this news with the utmost confidentiality. I have no idea what caused the surge in trading volume.

Kodak's stock price had plummeted since 2018 to its lowest point. The unexpected surge this time caught short sellers off guard, triggering multiple circuit breakers due to the excessive rise. This extraordinary operation has raised widespread community doubts, with investors replying under Kodak's tweet:

@UncleDrewIsALie: I like Kodak cameras, but do they even know anything about pharmaceuticals?

@chappie_cat: It's funny, a company dedicated to the photography business can't even focus on its core business, and now it wants to enter the pharmaceutical industry?

Declaring Bankruptcy, Turning to Blockchain

Kodak was once a pioneer in the photography field, but its failure to timely transition to digitalization led to filing for bankruptcy in 2012. Since then, Kodak has been continuously seeking its niche market. According to previous reports, Kodak announced the launch of the cryptocurrency "KODAKCoin" and conducted an ICO in January 2018.

At that time, Kodak partnered with blockchain developer WENN Digital to create the blockchain platform KodakOne and issued its cryptocurrency, but due to regulatory scrutiny and other related issues, it claimed to delay the token issuance.

Although the ICO declined in 2018, it was still popular at the beginning of the year. After the news of entering the blockchain industry, Kodak's stock price surged again, nearly tripling in the short term, but fell back to its original level after the hype.

It is understood that Kodak did not give up on the blockchain industry last year and launched a "Document Management Platform (DMS)" based on blockchain, claiming it could save up to 40% in operating costs. With the addition of entering the pharmaceutical industry, such diverse operations seem perplexing. The previous involvement in the blockchain industry appears more like a speculative stock trading strategy to ride the hype wave.