In December 1975, a Kodak engineer called Steven Sasson unveiled a new invention to his bosses. It was the world’s first digital camera. It weighed 4kg and took 23 seconds to capture an image, but it was clearly revolutionary.
Only it wasn’t to be Kodak’s revolution. Execs at the company – which at the time controlled more than 90% of the US photography market – were anxious it would cannibalise their celluloid business. “That’s cute, but don’t tell anyone about it,” one is notoriously rumoured to have said.
By the 1990s, when Kodak realised its mistake, competitors like Sony and Canon were leagues ahead. By then, competition was futile. Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
When future historians search for examples of extreme economic self-sabotage, they may turn to a quieter moment: a trilogue meeting held in Brussels this year on the Common Organisation of Markets (or “CMO”).
It was in this meeting, on 5 March, that EU negotiators reached a…
