Kodak adjusts structure under Faraci, Quatela to reduce costs

Eastman Kodak Co., the unprofitable 131-year-old imaging company, simplified its management structure and created a chief operating office to reduce costs.

The chief operating office will be led by Philip Faraci and Laura Quatela, both presidents at Rochester, New York-based Kodak. Faraci will focus on the commercial segment and sales and regional operations, and Quatela will focus on the consumer segment and certain corporate functions, Kodak said today.

Faraci, president and chief operating officer since 2007, and Quatela, the company's former general counsel who was last month named as a second president, both report to Kodak Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez.

Perez, who took the helm in 2005, has switched Kodak's focus to the printing business to help revive revenue. He is trying to sell a portfolio of more than 1,100 digital imaging patents, and some other businesses, to generate cash. The company is weighing options including a bankruptcy filing because of concerns raised by possible bidders for the patents, three people familiar with the matter said in September.

Shares of Kodak rose as much as 18 percent to 47 cents in early U.S. trading. The stock declined 88 percent last year.

Kodak, whose origins date back to 1880, was founded by George Eastman, who introduced the Kodak camera eight years later, according to the company's website. Kodak has shifted away from traditional film as consumers gravitate toward digital cameras, and is building its commercial and consumer printing business.

The new commercial and consumer segments replace a previous business structure consisting of three divisions: graphic communications; consumer digital imaging; and film, photofinishing and entertainment.