Eastman Kodak Co is to acquire the medical imaging business of Imation Corp for $520m in cash. Troubled 3M Corp spin-off Imation revealed earlier this year that it would be cutting roughly 1,700 jobs – roughly 17% of its total workforce – in a massive restructuring, originally announced last November (CI No 3,281). The sale of its medical imaging business, which accounted for a quarter of its revenues last year, will mean the company can concentrate on its data storage, photographic products, printing and publishing systems business. Eastman Kodak holds about 30% of the worldwide medical imaging market. The move marks a consolidation in the industry, coming as it does on the same day that Philips Electronics NV acquired medical imaging company ATL Ultrasound for $800m.
