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Polaroid cuts execs
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July 9, 2001: 5:37 p.m. ET
Five executives included in layoffs as bank deadline looms for film-maker
By Staff Writer John Chartier
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Five top Polaroid Corp. executives are leaving the company as the troubled instant film maker scrambles to cut costs in the face of a Thursday loan deadline, CNNfn.com has learned.
James Barron, vice president of Internet Development; John Jenkins, senior vice president for global operations; Harvey Greenberg, senior vice president for human resources; Carl Lueders, vice president of finance, and Norman Perrault, vice president for new product delivery and procurement, are leaving the company, spokesman Skip Colcord said Monday.
Their departures are included among 2,000 layoffs announced last month as the Cambridge, Mass.-based company restructures.
"This is consistent with what Polaroid has done with past restructuring. "It's not our policy to get into any great detail. We announced the total impact in June and we said it would cover all parts of the company," Colcord said. "In this case it does impact our executive offices."
Colcord declined to say which executives have already left the company, or say how much Polaroid (PRD: Research, Estimates) would save through the cuts, which were announced to employees through an internal memo last week. Details of the executives' severance packages were also unavailable.
The news comes four days before a deadline set by banks for the money-losing film and camera maker to get back in compliance with two loans. Polaroid has been struggling since the advent of digital photography, which pulled market share from its instant film business. Better-financed competitors such as Eastman-Kodak Co. (EK: Research, Estimates) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HWP: Research, Estimates) have taken the lead with the new technology.
If Polaroid fails to get an extension on the $363 million it owes, the banks, led by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. can call in the loans.
But Ulysses Yannas, an analyst at Buckman, Buckman & Reid, thinks Polaroid will secure an extension, mainly because of legal language in a federal filing indicating that one loan may be reduced in September.
Yannas, said the banks would likely grant an extension as long as Polaroid presents a sound plan for paying off its debts. He anticipates the company will generate the necessary cash through staff reductions, inventory draw-downs and sales of real estate.
"The banks will see this through the year's end, how fast this restructuring plan is taking hold," Yannas said.
Polaroid stock closed up 2 cents at $2.99 Monday. 
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Polaroid
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