Polaroid

Polaroid Corp., facing a deteriorating film and instant-camera business, said it will cut about 2,000 jobs, or 25% of its global work force, over the next 18 months in a bid to reduce debt and return to profitability. The cuts will include 1,000 jobs in the United States, most of them in Massachusetts, and will hit administrative as well as line employees, the company said.

Polaroid Corp. announced Tuesday that it will group operations in three major areas starting next year as part of a move to expand outside its core photography business. It said it will refocus its businesses into the areas of photography, high-resolution imaging, and imaging media and peripherals. Polaroid said it will offer a voluntary retirement option, although it did not specify how many employees it expected to accept the program.

A federal judge today awarded Polaroid Corp. $900 million in a patent infringement suit against Eastman Kodak Co. A court had ruled in 1985 that Kodak had infringed Polaroid's instant photography patents.

Polaroid, which pushed Eastman Kodak out of the instant photography market, said Thursday that it has reached an agreement on another patent dispute with Fuji Photo Film Co. of Japan. The agreement lets Fuji continue selling instant film in exchange for Polaroid getting a peek at some of Fuji's other graphics technology. Separately, Kodak announced that it had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision that forced it to abandon instant photography.

Polaroid Corp. on Tuesday rejected Shamrock Holdings' buyout offer, setting the stage for a likely hostile takeover bid for the instant photography company. Polaroid's decision, which came during a directors meeting at its headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., was widely expected. Polaroid has resisted talks with Shamrock since learning earlier this year that its stock was being accumulated the Burbank investment firm, which is owned by the family of Roy E. Disney, nephew of the late Walt Disney.

Polaroid Corp. said it has discussed the sale of its photo-identification unit with Littleton, Mass.-based Viisage Technology Inc. and with a group led by senior managers of the unit. Polaroid is considering bids for its Identification Systems unit, spokesman Skip Colcord said. He didn't give additional details. The unit sells driver's license equipment and related services to 36 states and employs about 350 people worldwide.

Polaroid Corp., maker of instant cameras and films, said today it plans to enter the conventional consumer film business on a worldwide basis, cut its work force and buy back up to $300 million worth of its stock.

Polaroid Corp. lost a bid Friday in federal court in Delaware to block a hostile, $2.4-billion takeover bid by Shamrock Holdings. In a Sept. 20 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Polaroid accused the Burbank investment firm of numerous securities law violations, including failure to disclose key information about its bid. The Cambridge, Mass., instant photography company asked for a preliminary order to stop Shamrock from proceeding with its $42-a-share offer.

A venture arm of Bank One Corp. won the bid to acquire instant film and camera maker Polaroid Corp. out of bankruptcy protection, the Boston Herald reported. One Equity will pay $255 million for the legendary Cambridge, Mass.-based photo company, under a deal that remains subject to court approval at a bankruptcy hearing today.

Polaroid Corp. said it won a California court ruling that could let it proceed with a $25-million contract to make driver's licenses in the state, the largest such contract in the U.S. The California Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court ruling that allowed NBS Imaging Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Toronto's NBS Technologies Inc., to keep the business.