Polaroid Corporation, an American company renowned for its instant film and cameras, now exists as a consumer electronics brand. Founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land to utilize his polarizing polymer, Polaroid introduced the first instant camera, the Land Camera, in 1948.
Land led the company until 1981, with peak employment reaching 21,000 in 1978 and peak revenue of $3 billion in 1991.
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In 2001, Polaroid Corporation declared bankruptcy, leading to the sale of its brand and assets. A new Polaroid company emerged, and the brand changed hands several times before being acquired by Polish billionaire Wiaczesław Smołokowski in 2017. This acquisition enabled the Impossible Project, which began producing instant films for vintage Polaroid cameras in 2008, to rebrand as Polaroid Originals in 2017 and eventually as Polaroid in 2020. Since the original company’s decline, various licensees have developed and released Polaroid-branded products in fields such as LCD televisions and DVD players worldwide.
