The WROC report did not include details on what the two organisations would reveal, beyond a manufacturing agreement related to Covid-19.
By days end, Kodak shares had gained 25 per cent as some 1.65m shares changed hands, more than 14 times the daily average over the preceding 10 trading days, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Jim Continenza, the executive chairman of Kodak, told CNBC on Wednesday that he couldnt tell you what influenced that [volume] on Monday, but that the team at Kodak knew for over a week about the looming announcement.
I mean obviously this has been a pretty tight kept secret obviously, even until the last day, he said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission declined to say if it was investigating the surge in trading activity ahead of the announcement. Kodak and Nexstar, the owner of WROC in Rochester, did not respond to requests for comment.
Kodak trading volumes continued to rise on Tuesday and Wednesday, with more than $US10.9b worth of the stock some 558m shares changing hands.
The stock, which briefly touched $US60 a share on Wednesday, quickly found its way into retail trading accounts. Investors on the stock-trading app Robinhood were among the big purchasers of Kodak, with 117,105 accounts owning the stock by the end of Wednesday, according to data tracking activity on the amateur trading app.
Fewer than 10,000 Robinhood accounts had owned shares in the company on Monday.
Mr Continenza told the Financial Times on Tuesday that Kodak would use the $US765m from the government to produce ingredients for generic medicines, including some that could be used to treat COVID-19.
Mr Continenza joined the companys board in 2013 after Kodaks failed attempts to remake its analogue film business landed it in bankruptcy. The presiding judge in the case called the failure a tragedy of American economic life.
Mr Continenza has also recently increased his stake in the group. In June, he disclosed to US securities regulators that he had purchased 46,737 shares.
The company, once at the forefront of technological development and a bedrock of the upstate New York economy, has tried to shift its business model before.
In 2018, it latched on to the popularity of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies, lending its familiar brand name to KodakCoin a tool to help photographers secure payment for digital image rights. That move sent its shares briefly soaring in value.
Financial Times
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