"Kodak is taking a significant step toward enabling our enterprise to complete its transformation," says Antonio M. Perez, Kodak's chairman and chief executive officer, when announcing the firm's intention to file for bankruptcy protection.

The decision comes after six years of losses that have resulted in Kodak amassing $6.8 billion in debt, while its assets are only valued at $5.1 billion. now, Kodak is banking on a $950 million debtor-in-possession credit facility with an 18-month maturity from Citigroup to survive over the next year and a half, providing "sufficient liquidity to operate its business during chapter 11, and to continue the flow of goods and services to its customers."

Kodak also expects to continue paying employee wages and benefits.

Kodak's CEO adds that the firm will continue to address its cost structure by monetising its non-core IP assets. For the past year, Kodak has been trying to sell more than 1100 photographic patents valued at more than $1 billion. Now, the goal for Kodak is to emerge as a "lean, world-class, digital imaging and materials science company." It remains unclear how this will affect Kodak's traditional film business, as Perez says that the firm has "already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing [its] workforce by 47,000 since 2003."

Perez adds: "Our goal is to maximize value for stakeholders, including our employees, retirees, creditors, and pension trustees. We are also committed to working with our valued customers."

Kodak expects to complete its restructuring in 2013.

Speaking to BJP, a former employee of Kodak UK praised the firm for its past achievements. "It was the best company I've worked for," says Andrew Eberlin, who worked at Kodak from 1999 to 2006. "I joined the consumer imaging business when film was still popular. But when I left, digital photography had taken over."

He adds: "My view is that because film was so profitable for Kodak, it didn't really invest into the digital market until it was too late." In fact, he tells BJP, only five people worked in the digital photography division at Kodak UK in 2004. A year later, the film and digital division were merged into one, but it was "far too late," says Eberlin. "At the beginning of the decade, Kodak would be the major supplier for clients such as Tesco. But by 2004, we weren't. The relationships had changed and we were just one suppliers among many others. That was a shock for many at Kodak."

UPDATE: Kodak UK has now released the following statement: "As you have heard, Kodak and our U.S. subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 reorganization, but our European business is not affected by this and will operate as usual. We will continue to serve and meet the needs of all our customers and suppliers in Europe."

UPDATE 2 (Friday 20 January): "Our European business is not affected by the decision that has been taken by our US parent company to file for voluntary Chapter 11 business reorganization for U.S. businesses," says Philip Cullimore, managing director of Kodak Europe. "In Europe we have seen a significant shift towards business-to-business imaging applications, and are weighted towards printing. These businesses in Europe are performing well and growing fast."