# Doomed Companies & Brands **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 21, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979 "2010-06-21T14:04:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beerman1963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@Beerman1963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beerman1963)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/41 "2010-06-21T22:41:10Z")
Yes Chefguy Hummer is gone. Volvo almost went to the Chinese! Can anyone say ironic car company?(volvo=really safe chinese built=crappy) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/42 "2010-06-21T23:03:54Z")
Yes, Hummer went down. ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/43 "2010-06-21T23:04:48Z")
Geez, with all the Canadian dopers here, I can’t believe someone didn’t mention [Nortel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nortel). Once a major chunk of the entire Canadian stock market. Run into the ground by execs who pretended the bursting of the internet bubble didn’t apply to them, and then tried to cook the books to hide how bad it was. When they hired me, they were one of the most prestigious companies in Canada to work for. When I quit in 2005, it had become a poisoned workplace. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/44 "2010-06-21T23:18:42Z")
> [@Beerman1963](#): > > Yes Chefguy Hummer is gone. Volvo almost went to the Chinese! Can anyone say ironic car company?(volvo=really safe chinese built=crappy) What do you mean “almost?” As far as I know, the deal is still on for Geely Automobile to buy Volvo. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/45 "2010-06-22T00:20:56Z")
> [@Beerman1963](#): > > Yes Chefguy Hummer is gone. Volvo almost went to the Chinese! Can anyone say ironic car company?(volvo=really safe chinese built=crappy) What do you mean almost? We are just sitting here waiting to see what the new owners will do. I understand the new sales promotion will be “With an S80 you get egg roll” ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/46 "2010-06-22T00:41:50Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > Fortunately he wasn’t–the meeting was to tell him he was being kept on. But they’re definitely doing at least some layoffs. I hope your in-law doesn’t get a notice. ☹ Don’t you love that crap? Last year we closed one line of business and moved everyone over to another line that was expanding. Asshole Director pulls us all in a room and announces that as of a certain date, our business line will no longer exist. “I’ll let that sink in for a minute”. THEN he tells is that we’re getting moved to the other line. _ **ASSHOLE!** _ ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/47 "2010-06-22T00:50:25Z")
> [@trupa](#): > > Geez, with all the Canadian dopers here, I can’t believe someone didn’t mention [Nortel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nortel). Once a major chunk of the entire Canadian stock market. Run into the ground by execs who pretended the bursting of the internet bubble didn’t apply to them, and then tried to cook the books to hide how bad it was. When they hired me, they were one of the most prestigious companies in Canada to work for. When I quit in 2005, it had become a poisoned workplace. I thought Nortel had been dead for a year or more now; at any rate, they’ve been circling the drain since the internet crash back in 2001-2002, and it was pretty much just a matter of time. I think Blockbuster and Kodak are also doomed; Blockbuster because physically renting videos is going tits-up except in the low income parts of town, and they seem to prefer those kiosks at McDonald’s. Their best bet in my opinion would be to leverage their name for someone’s Netflix competitor. Kodak (this was an interesting b-school paper) not because the film and film camera industry has died, but because there aren’t as many barriers to entry in the digital camera / printer space as there were in the film space. I mean, they had what… 3 real competitors in the film space(Agfa, Fuji and Konica?), and a handful in the camera market. In the digital market, they’re competing with all the old camera makers, and any other company that can slap a digital camera together, which is basically every computer manufacturer and consumer electronics manufacturer out there. Combine that with the effectively dead revenue stream from film sales, and they’re struggling mightily. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/48 "2010-06-22T00:57:17Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Yes, Hummer went down. I see what you did there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/49 "2010-06-22T00:59:32Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I’d be surprised if T-Mobile went under since it is owned by Deutsche Telekom. > > If the iPhone wasn’t exclusive to AT&T, T-Mobile would be the biggest beneficiary as they use the same wireless standards as AT&T. Of course, that will change by the time the likely end of the exclusivity agreement ends, as Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile will all be using the same 4G standard. Not quite. They are both UMTS networks, but T-Mo uses 1700 MHz / 2100 MHz for their 3G service, while AT&T uses 850 MHz / 1900 MHz. You can use phones from either carrier on either network for voice and data; however, the data speeds will be limited to EDGE (2G). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/50 "2010-06-22T01:02:36Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I think Blockbuster and Kodak are also doomed; Blockbuster because physically renting videos is going tits-up except in the low income parts of town, and they seem to prefer those kiosks at McDonald’s. Their best bet in my opinion would be to leverage their name for someone’s Netflix competitor. > > Kodak (this was an interesting b-school paper) not because the film and film camera industry has died, but because there aren’t as many barriers to entry in the digital camera / printer space as there were in the film space. > > I mean, they had what… 3 real competitors in the film space(Agfa, Fuji and Konica?), and a handful in the camera market. > > In the digital market, they’re competing with all the old camera makers, and any other company that can slap a digital camera together, which is basically every computer manufacturer and consumer electronics manufacturer out there. Combine that with the effectively dead revenue stream from film sales, and they’re struggling mightily. Kodak’s troubles are somewhat sad because they literally invented the digital camera, and yet are at best a minor player in that business. As for Blockbuster Video, [here](http://www.fastcompany.com/1656502/an-interview-with-blockbuster-ceo-jim-keyes-part-ii)’s a hilarious interview with the CEO in which he desperately tries to explain why the company isn’t doomed. As I understand it, their big advantages are the 28-day lead it has over Redbox and Netflix for movies from some studios and that its streaming video service (Blockbuster On Demand) is so much easier to use than Netflix’s (which apparently makes his head hurt, it’s so hard). ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/51 "2010-06-23T16:51:36Z")
I’ll be really sorry to see Blockbuster go. They’ve got a fairly decent selection of stuff, a lot of which isn’t on “on demand” (at least not through Netflix), and we like to get a stack of movies at a time if we’re going to the store. Redbox (or whatever it is) where you rent movies for a buck a day… well, that could get pretty darned pricey if you want to keep the movie for more than 2-3 days. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/52 "2010-06-23T17:00:00Z")
**Hollywood Video** went bankrupt and has closed all of its stores. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/53 "2010-06-23T17:27:09Z")
Family Video seems to be expanding despite all of this, though. I still see a place for brick-and-mortar video rental; not everybody has a Netflix subscription, sometimes people want to get a certain movie on the spur of the moment, and the library at RedBox is fairly skimpy. Public libraries often have a good selection of videos, and they’re free, but hours aren’t necessarily convenient. I see Kodak surviving, but as a much smaller company. They’re going to have to branch out into other aspects of imaging; laser printers, copying machines, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/54 "2010-06-23T19:56:45Z")
> [@](#): > > I see Kodak surviving, but as a much smaller company. They’re going to have to branch out into other aspects of imaging; laser printers, copying machines, and the like. Kodak has been involved in copying machines for decades now. Printers, too, I’m pretty sure. Here’s a recent take on Kodak’s future: [http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/04/20/Kodaks-Future-Patently-Clear.aspx](http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/04/20/Kodaks-Future-Patently-Clear.aspx) Kodak has been changing rapidly. It was only a few years ago that they were dynamiting an old factory literally every week. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/55 "2010-06-23T20:14:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Kodak has been involved in copying machines for decades now. Printers, too, I’m pretty sure. I never knew they had copiers, except for home mulifunction printers. I can’t recall seeing a Kodak laser printer, either. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979/56 "2010-06-23T20:30:26Z")
[http://www.prontotech.com/kodak-printers-scanners-copiers-and-fax-9x5m8](http://www.prontotech.com/kodak-printers-scanners-copiers-and-fax-9x5m8) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doomed-companies-brands/543979.md?page=2)