Kodak emerges from bankruptcy with focus on printing

The company in April resolved a crucial dispute with its British pension fund, which dropped a $2.8 billion claim against Kodak. The fund also bought the company's personalized imaging and document imaging businesses, to be named Kodak Alaris, for $650 million.

The company said it has repaid its debtor-in-possession lenders and will receive about $406 million in new financing.

Perez, in charge since 2005, had been trying to steer the company towards consumer and commercial printers but was unable to stem the cash drain. The company has not posted an annual profit since 2007.

Chief executives are commonly ousted through the bankruptcy process, but Perez remains top boss at Kodak, a result he attributed to his ability to do "what I needed to do" during the restructuring.

"When I came here, the previous board ... gave me three tasks - restructure the film business, create a completely new company that would have a future, and ... eliminate or settle the very large legacy costs that we had from the old company," Perez said.

Kodak had hoped to fetch more than $2 billion through its bankruptcy process for about 1,100 patents related to digital imaging, but drew only $525 million for the portfolio, which experts said was a crucial reason it had to sell core businesses and reinvent itself.

"We're not the largest competitor in the market, but we're offering the biggest differentiation in the market," Perez said.