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Sears files for bankruptcy protection; Eddie Lampert steps down as CEO
CNBC ^ | 15 OCT 18 | Lauren Hirsch | Lauren Thomas

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amazon; bankruptcy; chapter11; kmart; lampert; retail; sears; trends
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Sears, once the largest U.S. retailer, has filed for bankruptcy protection. Eddie Lampert will be stepping down as CEO immediately, although he remains its chairman. As part of the bankruptcy, Sears will shutter 142 stores toward the end of the year.
1 posted on 10/15/2018 4:31:14 AM PDT by DCBryan1
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To: DCBryan1

He’s probably been paid out for his shares, so he’s good.


2 posted on 10/15/2018 4:33:10 AM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death by cults.)
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To: DCBryan1
Sad, slow moving, train wreck. Man I loved those Sears Christmas Catalogs. I even have the blue sears-only Star Wars Snaggletooth. Many people thought Lampert would be the next Warren buffet....sigh.


3 posted on 10/15/2018 4:33:46 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (Quit calling them liberals, progs, socialists, or democrats. Call them what they are: COMMUNISTS!!!!)
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To: DCBryan1

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.


4 posted on 10/15/2018 4:33:48 AM PDT by PittsburghAfterDark (The American media: We do what the Soviet media did without the guns to our head.)
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To: DCBryan1

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.


5 posted on 10/15/2018 4:34:45 AM PDT by PeteB570 ( Islam is the sea in which the Terrorist Shark swims. The deeper the sea the larger the shark.)
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To: PittsburghAfterDark
The biggest case study of dumb management that will ever be written.

Boom...soups to nuts in one sentence! Good job.

6 posted on 10/15/2018 4:35:21 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (Quit calling them liberals, progs, socialists, or democrats. Call them what they are: COMMUNISTS!!!!)
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To: PittsburghAfterDark

Coulda Woulda Shoulda

Didn’t


7 posted on 10/15/2018 4:36:35 AM PDT by Peter W. Kessler ("NUTS!!!")
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To: DCBryan1

I think Mont. Ward and K - Mart may both be nominated for the top spot.


8 posted on 10/15/2018 4:38:48 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: DCBryan1

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.


9 posted on 10/15/2018 4:41:44 AM PDT by MissEdie (I am South Carolina Strong.)
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To: PeteB570

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.


10 posted on 10/15/2018 4:45:01 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Free Republic is one stop shopping...It's the super Walmart for news.)
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To: DCBryan1

Sears assets are real estate and a few brands. Nothing else has value.


11 posted on 10/15/2018 4:46:06 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: DCBryan1

This is the company that invented mail order retail sales. If they had gone to internet sales earlier they might have made it.


12 posted on 10/15/2018 4:50:21 AM PDT by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
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To: Beagle8U

My ex’s grandfather made his millions mass-producing furniture for Sears and Montgomery Ward.


13 posted on 10/15/2018 4:59:27 AM PDT by digger48
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To: DCBryan1
Man I loved those Sears Christmas Catalogs.

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!)

14 posted on 10/15/2018 5:04:37 AM PDT by Flick Lives
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To: DCBryan1

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.


15 posted on 10/15/2018 5:04:44 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you .)
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To: DCBryan1

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.


16 posted on 10/15/2018 5:07:14 AM PDT by Sasparilla ( I'm Not Tired of Winning)
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To: DCBryan1

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.)


17 posted on 10/15/2018 5:09:52 AM PDT by Kommodor (Terrorist, Journalist or Democrat? I can't tell the difference.)
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To: DCBryan1

I still have 2 boxes of Ted Williams 30-30, headstamped Sears.


18 posted on 10/15/2018 5:14:04 AM PDT by aomagrat (Gun owners who vote for democrats are too stupid to own guns.)
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To: MissEdie

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.


19 posted on 10/15/2018 5:23:16 AM PDT by Ray'sBeth
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To: aomagrat
I had a Sears automobile. Bigger than life, right on the side, “Allstate”. It was actually a Henry J that they remarked - but it had a title that said “Allstate” and Sears sold them through their catalog.

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).

20 posted on 10/15/2018 5:23:51 AM PDT by I cannot think of a name
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