Posted on 10/15/2018 4:31:14 AM PDT by DCBryan1
Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy protection early Monday after years of staying afloat through financial maneuvering and relying on billions of CEO Eddie Lampert's own money. The company also announced that Lampert will be stepping down as CEO, effective immediately, although he remains its chairman.
The 125-year-old retailer, once the nation's largest, said Monday it was appointing Mohsin Meghji, managing partner of M-III Partners, as its chief restructuring officer.
As part of the bankruptcy, Sears will shutter 142 stores toward the end of the year. It expects to begin liquidation sales shortly.
The bankruptcy filing comes more than a decade after Lampert merged Sears and Kmart, hoping that forging together the two struggling discounters would create a more formidable competitor.
Lampert has shed Sears assets and spun out real estate to pay down the debt the retailer accumulated when that plan went askew. The company still has roughly 700 stores, which have at times been barren, unstocked by vendors who have lost their trust. Many of the stores have never been visited by younger generations of shoppers.
Also see: Sears is closing another 142 stores. Here's a map of the locations it has left
Lampert, who has a controlling ownership stake in Sears, personally holds some 31 percent of its shares outstanding, according to FactSet. His hedge fund ESL Investments owns about 19 percent.
But even with the bankruptcy filing, Lampert continues to invest in Sears. The retailer said Monday morning ESL is negotiating a $300 million debtor in possession loan to support it through its bankruptcy. That loan comes on top of an additional $300 million it has secured from investment banks.
"ESL invested time and money in Sears because we believe the company has a future," ESL and Lampert said in a statement Monday.
At one time, Sears even sold its own brand of automobile, the Sears Allstate. It was a rebadged Henry J supplied by Kaiser Motors in the early 1950s.
When I bought my house in 1991, I went to Sear, and bought a washer, dryer, and microwave, and sold all 3 in perfect working condition with the house in 2010.
Mark
Amen, a perfect example of what not to do in business.
My wife and I are still the owners of the house she grew up in. Wasn’t built by Sears, but in 1954 her Dad had a Sears ‘LifeTime” roof installed. Looks almost like shingles but it is actually aluminum plates about a quarter inch thick - and it still doesn’t leak!
A relative lives in it now. I told the wife this morning, “damm, if they go bankrupt I guess there goes the LifeTime warranty on the roof. I’m sure your Dad expected to get more than 65 years out of it!”
K-Mart is owned by Sears
The other day on a TV show about "barn finds," one of the rarest motorcycles around today is an early 1920s Sears motorcycle that competed against HD & Indian. They were only made for 3 years, and only a handful are still in existence.
Mark
Amen, a perfect example of what not to do in business.
They sold off most of the better locations.
“Man I loved those Sears Christmas Catalogs.”
You were lucky. We got to look at it but got our presents from the green stamp catalog.
You got a toaster for Christmas?
Eddie robbed Sears blind, if I recall correctly. He transferred all their real estate holdings to his own company.
“but got our presents from the green stamp catalog”
Lucky you.
I always thought the S&H Green Stamps catalog had better toys, but my parents were big Handy Andy lovers so we were stuck with the yellow “Top Value” which contained a lot less choices. I still remember sitting there with a sponge and sticking down sheets of stamps in that little book.
Lambert drove Sears into the ground, and only after they file BK does he finally step down, something that he should have done years ago.
Yes sir.
Of course the one I had would have taken a lot of restoration to look like that, what with a 401 nail head Buick engine sitting half in the passenger compartment and half in the engine compartment. His vision was to make a streetable car that looked like a ‘gasser’ of the times. Apparently neither one of us know how to get the drivetrain properly aligned.
” You got a toaster for Christmas.”
Actually they had a good line of Tonka toys.
Fire trucks, dump trucks, road graders.
Spent many hours with them in the sand.
Our Sears is usually empty, as is the Mall it’s located in.......................
VERY different from other stores. Other stores have people to help you make selections, and perhaps even more important, they know how to operate a cash register...
[I have a friend who is living in a Sears home bought and put together back in the 50’s. Many of the original components are still good.]
Could be a “Golden Key”. Very popular in the 50’s early 60’s. My dad put up dozens of them. Used to come on a trailer and then assembled on the jobsite.
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