Big news in the photo industry! The Polaroid brand and its intellectual property have been acquired by the largest shareholder of The Impossible Project, Polaroid reports. Now one family controls both the Polaroid brand and The Impossible Project.
The company that owns the Polaroid brand and several others was sold by a group led by the Pohlad family to a group led by the Smolokowski family. The Pohlad family, owners of the Minnesota Twins baseball team, acquired a controlling stake in Polaroid back in December 2014 for $70 million.
Vyacheslav "Slava" Smolokowski, an energy industry magnate and founder of one of the world’s largest commodity trading houses, acquired 20% of Impossible’s shares in 2012 after being convinced by his son Oscar. In 2014, Oscar Smolokowski became CEO of The Impossible Project. Senior Smolokowski is now the largest shareholder of Impossible.
This Polaroid deal brings two related brands under one roof. In October 2008, The Impossible Project purchased Polaroid’s last factory in Enschede, Netherlands, for $3.1 million after Polaroid announced the end of production in February 2008. Since 2008, Impossible has successfully launched several new instant film lines as well as its first camera, the I-1.
"We are also very excited to welcome the new group to the Polaroid family and look forward to writing the next chapter in the Polaroid brand’s history," says Polaroid President and CEO Scott Hardy. Polaroid’s headquarters and management will remain in Minnetonka, Minnesota, even after the sale.
The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, and there is no information yet on what, when, and how the Polaroid and Impossible Project brands will collaborate. But it looks like fans of Polaroid and instant photography have a lot to look forward to :)
Source: petapixel.com.