We’ve all had a moment like this. You’re in a dentist office waiting room. You reach for the stack of magazines on the table and think to yourself, “Wait, Reader’s Digest still exists?” We’re taking a look at some of the companies you may not realize are still hanging on in this week’s Five for Friday.
#5: Kodak
Kodak filed for bankruptcy just over a decade ago but surprisingly it’s still in business. Cellphones made a huge dent in its consumer photography business but Kodak does have Polaroid-esque instant-print cameras which have been making a comeback. Kodak is also a big player in the movie business, working with IMAX to develop the “next generation of film cameras.” And I bet you didn’t know Kodak dipped its toe in pharmaceuticals. Back in 2020 it did land in some hot water due to a prospective deal with the federal government to manufacture generic drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic. It sent Kodak’s stock price skyrocketing, but in the end all they received was an investigation into insider trading.
#4: RadioShack
RadioShack has been around for more than a century. It was once a haven for tech-tinkerers looking to be on the cutting edge. But the consumer electronics industry exploded, especially online, and the Shack hasn’t found where it fits in since. RadioShack filed for bankruptcy twice in the last decade, in 2015 and 2017. Now it operates a cryptocurrency exchange with its own token, which they announced with a series of vulgar tweets. It also appears they are attempting to cash in on the meme of their irrelevance by selling nostalgia-laced merchandise.
#3: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey dominated the circus world since the 1870s. Seeing the “Greatest Show on Earth” was a right of passage for any child for well over a century. But the new millennium brought on its demise with low attendance and protests over animal rights. In 2017 they drew the final curtain with their last show. Or so we thought. This year, Feld Entertainment announced Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is making a comeback in 2023 but this time, without the animals that sparked criticism.
#2: Atari
Before Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo could run the video game industry, Atari had to walk. Atari was a pioneer throughout the 1970s. The Atari 2600 is a classic, featuring games like Adventure, Centipede and Pitfall. But it hasn’t been a player in the console business for decades, unless you count the console made by Lego in 2022. After filing for bankruptcy in 2013, Atari sold off its biggest intellectual property. The company is now in the blockchain business and entered a partnership to develop a group of Atari-branded gaming hotels, the first of which should pop up in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
#1: AOL
America Online was synonymous with the internet in the 1990s, but now it’s just a company that provides emails to old-timers. AOL was so successful in 2000 that it bought Time Warner for $182 billion, the largest merger in American history. Just 15 years later, Verizon bought AOL for only $4.4 billion. Surprisingly, as of 2021, AOL still had 1.5 million paying subscribers, although they are really paying for ID protection and limited technical support.
