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Kodak: Report out of focus
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May 28, 1999: 4:12 p.m. ET
Investors sell Kodak shares on report it's losing sales to rival Fuji
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Eastman Kodak Co. shares retreated Friday after a published report claimed the world's top supplier of photography products was losing domestic market share to rival Fuji Photo Film Co.
Kodak (EK) shares had shed 1-9/16 in late afternoon trading, falling to 67-1/4 following a report in the Wall Street Journal that Kodak's U.S. unit share fell to 64 percent in April from 69.6 percent in December. The same story reported Fuji's (FUJIY) domestic share had risen by roughly five percentage basis points to 23.4 percent during the same period.
The Journal attributed the figures to retail surveys conducted by ACNielson Corp. and Information Resources Inc., which it obtained from subscribers. An ACNielson spokesman declined comment on the story and Information Resources did not return calls seeking comment.
Still, Kodak released a written statement Friday afternoon claiming the Journal story was "short-term in focus" and based on "a partial view of the market."
Kodak officials claimed the ACNielson data, which measures retail sales at grocery, drug and mass market stores on a monthly basis, is sound, but only captures about 60 percent of the overall market.
Kodak said its own internal projections show the firm has actually gained a percentage point in domestic market share.
"We have a high degree of confidence in [ACNielson's] data...but there's a big chunk of the market that they're missing," said Charles S. Smith, a Kodak spokesman.
Smith also said the ACNielson data, because it is measured on a weekly basis, is highly subjective to significant market share swings depending on different promotions companies are running during that period.
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