Kodak Worth More in Breakup with $3 Billion Patents

Eastman Kodak Co. may hold patents worth five times more than the business itself, making the 131-year-old camera company a target in the billion-dollar hunt for inventions used in mobile phones. Kodak, which once had a market value of more than $30 billion, slid 98 percent from its 1990s peak through yesterday as demand for film photography withered and smartphones equipped to take pictures siphoned off demand for its digital cameras.

“Kodak is the lowest hanging fruit out there,” Chris Marlett, chief executive officer at MDB Capital, a Santa Monica, California-based investment bank specializing in intellectual property, said