THE EALY YEARS
Polaroid Corporation was founded in 1937 by Edwin Land, who had dropped out of Harvard College to pursue ideas on the polarization of light. The early years of Polaroid reflected the characteristics of Land: inventive, determined, and single-minded. The first instant camera was produced in 1948, and from that moment 90 percent of the company's efforts were dedicated to the development of the field. Within four decades, sales of the firm grew from $142000 to over $1 billion, largely on the basis of Land's interest and oversight of the research effort in instant photography. Significant breakthroughs included instant black-and-white film (1954), instant color film (1960), and the SX-70 camera and film (1972), which freed the user from having to coat the developing picture.
In 1997 the firm's sales exceeded $1 billion for the first time, though this achievement was offset by increasing pressures from the sales force for new sources of growth, in the form of cheaper products. Internally there had been major efforts to develop products beyond instant photography: document copiers, and an instant movie camera and film. The movie project debuted in 1977 as Polavision, an instant motion-picture technology. Unfortunately, sale languished largely because of the advent of video-camera technology. In 1979, the directors wrote off the inventory of Polaroid products and effectively exited from the business. In 1980, Edwin Land stepped down as CEO of the firm; he retired from the board in 1982 and a years later sold his Polaroid stock in a public offering.
RECENT FINANCIAL PERFORMANCR
The two most notable events of past decade were prompted by the actions of others. In 1976 Eastman Kodak Company introduced an instant camera and film product that threatened Polaroid's dominance of the instant-photography field. Polaroid sued Kodak for patent infringement, and 10 years later in 1986 was awarded the largest patent judgment in history, some $900 million. Meanwhile, few significant new products were developed during this time. In 1988, with no large shareholder like Edwin Land to protect the firm and expecting the proceeds from the Kodak patent judgment, Polaroid received an unsolicited tender offer from Shamrock Holdings. Shamrock proposed to pay the company more tightly. Polaroid's management wanted to reinvest the proceeds in the business. To fend off the takeover threat, the firm conducted a leveraged recapitalization that involved the innovative use of an employee stock ownership plan (ESPO). The leveraged recap dramatically increased the firm's debt-to-capital ratio from 0 in 1998 to 56 percent in 1989. Shortly thereafter the firm began a program of steady share repurchases. Despite the repurchase program, long-term debt-to-capital fell to 42 percent by 1995. Exhibit 1 gives a 10-year summary of the financial characteristics of the firm.