Polaroid Corporation was an American company that made instant film and cameras, which survives as a brand for consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit his Polaroid polarizing polymer. Land and Polaroid created the first instant camera, the Land Camera, in 1948. Land ran the company until 1981. Its peak employment was 21,000 in 1978, and its peak revenue was $3 billion in 1991.
Polaroid Corporation filed for bankruptcy in 2001; its brand and assets were sold off. A successor Polaroid company formed, and the branded assets changed hands multiple times before being sold to Polish billionaire Wiaczesław Smołokowski in 2017.