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.
He’s probably been paid out for his shares, so he’s good.
Wow, 15 years too late and several billion dollars short.
The year after the catalog was shuttered Amazon started selling.
115 years of selling direct to consumers homes gone like the wind.....
The biggest case study of dumb management that will ever be written.
Used to shop at the local Sears in the 1980s. It was located in the Mall.
Loved the camping/outdoors section, tools, appliances and cloths.
Each year they had less and less of the good stuff.
Now it’s pretty much a clothing store not much different from the other ones.
Boom...soups to nuts in one sentence! Good job.
Coulda Woulda Shoulda
Didn’t
I think Mont. Ward and K - Mart may both be nominated for the top spot.
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.
I used to like shopping at Sears because you could furnish every room of your home under one roof. Furniture, appliances, TV’s, everything was there.
Sears assets are real estate and a few brands. Nothing else has value.
This is the company that invented mail order retail sales. If they had gone to internet sales earlier they might have made it.
My ex’s grandfather made his millions mass-producing furniture for Sears and Montgomery Ward.
Ah, fond memories of being a kid type and poring over the toy section of the Sear Christmas catalog. (Racing at scale speeds of 800 MPH! Woo, hoo!)
Sears has been dying for near 30 years. Just let go already.
BTW my most prolific firearm is a Sears model 200 12 gauge (Made by winchester). At least 25 deer and uncounted small game. I still have the receipt from 1976.
You used to be able to buy anything, absolutely anything through the Sears catalog. That even included complete stone houses kits.
If they had kept it and taken advantage of it on the internet, it most likely would be dominant, and Amazon would still be just a river.
Sad day, growing up in the ‘sticks’, Sears, JCP & Monkey Wards wish books were an essential part of the Christmas hype season. Probably won’t be long before Sears joins MW on the ash heap of failed retailers. If so, it’ll be surprising if JCP lasts the longest. Go fig.
(Although, to be honest, if I do go to the mall for the first time in ages, I’ll probably look for shirts, etc. at JCP before Sears, go fig.)
I still have 2 boxes of Ted Williams 30-30, headstamped Sears.
Your friend’s house would not have been bought from Sears in the 50s because they stopped manufacturing them earlier. My house arrived on the train with all its numbered pieces, in 1922, and is still one of the strongest houses around. We have many in our area west of Chicago, a real tribute to their forward thinking of that time.
A friend of mind tried to make a hot rod out of it by putting in a Buick engine and transmission. He could never get it to run correctly and sold it to me out of frustration - and cheap.
I messed with it for another year and couldn't get it run right, so I sold the engine and trans and junked the rest.
Of course you can imagine what collectors pay for them now (another of my brilliant decisions).
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