There have been an increasing number of stories of publicly traded companies seeing their share price surge due to merely having some kind of association with cryptocurrencies, no matter how minor the association may be.
A prime case of this has happened today, as Eastman Kodak made an announcement that it will launch its own cryptocurrency, Kodakcoin, which is made specifically for photographers.
Share prices more than doubled, as the stock closed at 6.80 today, with yesterday’s closing price being 3.10.
While this spike is certainly impressive, it does little to change the fact that over the long run(in recent years), Eastman Kodak has been a destroyer of shareholder value. Take a look at the 5-year stock price chart:
So is this simply a last ditch effort to temporarily pump up the share price, or a legitimate crypto venture by the business? I’d say a little of both, judging by what Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke’s today:
“For many in the tech industry, ‘blockchain’ and ‘cryptocurrency’ are hot buzzwords, but for photographers who’ve long struggled to assert control over their work and how it’s used, these buzzwords are the keys to solving what felt like an unsolvable problem.”
This new coin is merely part of a rights management platform, using the blockchain framework, called KodakOne.
While I do appreciate the attempt to innovate, I would wager that this move will do little to increase revenues, which have been steadily declining year over year. Too little too late, I'm afraid. I'll be keeping track of how Kodak does after this, and if other companies keep name-dropping crypto just to boost share prices.
*This post is not intended as financial advice in any way. It is for information purposes only.