Do you remember the Helms Bakery delivery trucks in Los Angeles?  Almost everyone had started going to super  markets.  That change in behavior ended one of the largest bakery businesses in the country.

  

From The Wall Street Journal

Eastman Kodak Co.’s effort to draw interest in the sale of its digital patent portfolio is flagging, people familiar with the matter said, complicating the 132-year-old photography pioneer’s chances of emerging from bankruptcy court.

The people said the company hasn’t been able to attract what’s known as a stalking-horse bidder, one who agrees ahead of time to purchase the assets for a certain price, a tactic that can push prices higher. As a result, those people said, Kodak is preparing to hold a “naked” auction for the patents, one in which no suitor makes an opening bid before the auction begins.  More of this article here.

It is truly sad to watch a once proud vibrant company collapse. This is not the first American company to dissolve before our eyes.  I can think of a few others without any research. MGM(Metro Goldwyn Mayer), Bethlehem Steel, United States Steel, Douglas Aircraft, and Zenith Electronics are the ones I remember.  The list is much longer than this.  Remember Polaroid Camera?  How about Nash and Hudson that morphed into American Motors?

No one can change this reality.  No president, no congress, and no buy out specialist.

Kodak simply doesn’t have a product that substitutes for the income stream provided by the sale of millions of rolls of film.

The milk man is part of our past and so is Good Humor Ice Cream and Helms Bakery.