ROCHESTER, NY—Eastman Kodak is reportedly on the brink of filing for bankruptcy protection.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the public company is preparing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in lieu of selling off its 1,100 digital patents.



The company is also in talks with potential lenders to secure approximately $1 billion in debtor-in possession financing to carry it through bankruptcy proceedings, while the Chapter 11 filing could come as soon as this month or early February, according to the Journal.

As the company works on a restructuring plan, "a key issue for creditors is whether the printer operations are worth supporting, or whether the bulk of the company's value is in its patents," reads the article.

Kodak is scheduled to report Q4 results on Jan. 26. Meanwhile, its shares were falling, trading for 43 cents on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning. Shares closed at 47 cents on Wednesday.