Think about what a retail chain is, and ask yourself a simple question: What assets does it own?
Most retailers have minimal tangible assets. If they own their stores they have real estate, but if they are tenants in shopping centers (I believe this is usually the case) then their major assets are: (1) their brand name, (2) financial service divisions that issue credit to their customers, and (3) their inventory.
For Sears, Item (1) has lost most of its value by now. Item (2) loses its value as customers walk away. Item (3) is a transient asset that comes with a carrying cost (hence the incentive to sell inventory as quickly as possible).
Interestingly, Sears apparently has another "asset" that may be very attractive to buyers: its ongoing financial losses. It appears that Sears' losses can be used by certain buyers (maybe even only Lampert himself) to offset billions of dollars in future taxable income.
It sounds bizarre, but I've heard stranger stories in the business world.
I posted another article link further down in the comments.
That’s got some really good info in it as well...
Dude has an interesting Wiki entry too.
Sears still owns a bit of real estate, at least as of this past September. But I can’t find any citation for the current value of the real estate holdings.
Sears owned TONS of real estate. It was the ONLY thing they had left.
Sears did/does own a lot of real estate. The old time big shopping centers often had “anchors” own their own building and certain related parking. The shopping center developer owned the mall stores and the mall in between anchors. There was often provisions in the higher end mall leases that their lease was cut drastically if an anchor went “dark.”
In Kansas City, there is a mall near the airport norther end of town that was owned by a developer (now dead) who had two crazy sons. It left one of its anchors go dark (Montgomery Wards) twenty years ago and did not replace them. Another anchor who was viable they drove off (Dillards) and the last anchor remodeled a buyout: Macy’s replacing Jones Store. They played hard ball with their mall stores and drove them all out. Macy’s stands alone, still operating with a demolished mall covering the rest of the 80 acres. Real sad.
Other than its massive real estate portfolio (and leases - in the old days, long-term leases could have significant value, but as brick-and-mortar retailing space is shrinking, I don’t know whether that’s as true now), Sears had valuable brands that they’ve sold off, or are selling off, such as Craftsman, and Kenmore.
Just for Craftsman, Sears got nearly a billion dollars.
It is true, you can buy a "taxable loss" that will offset a "taxable gain" in the future. If the price is right, you win.
In the early 80s, I sold "tax-leveraged leases" to major companies which were not profitable that year, that allowed a much lower apparent monthly "charge" because we sold the tax {loss} benefits to wealthy individuals, i.e. doctors, lawyers, etc. that wanted to shelter income against fed taxes, while making a profit.
We knew how to do that, and it worked until Ronaldus change the tax system, and put my company out of business {but it should have been because we were eating out of the tax trough}.
The highest tax rate was 78%, I was in it, and never paid a dime in federal income tax, until RR changed to code and went from 78% to 28% and it cost me six figures in fed taxes. Oh, did I mention, they eliminated a boatload of offset deductions, and instituted a gimmick called the "alternative minimum" which meant, we gotcha.