Posted on 01/16/2019 8:46:55 AM PST by Phillyred
Sears Holdings reached a roughly $5 billion deal with its chairman, Eddie Lampert, early Wednesday to keep the company, and about 400 stores, in operations, according to people familiar with the situation.
The deal came after days of negotiations at the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Lampert has been trying to buy Sears out of bankruptcy through an affiliate of his hedge fund ESL Investments. The owner of Kmart and Sears had filed for bankruptcy in October, and Lampert's bid was the only one that would have kept it alive.
The offer had strong bargaining tools: It could save up to 50,000 jobs and create an infrastructure to support the continued operations of its businesses like Sears Home Services. But multiple offers that Lampert put forward over the past few weeks have fallen short.
There have been questions about the bid's ability to cover Sears' administrative expenses, like vendor payments and advisory fees. The bid is relying on a $1.3 billion so-called credit bid — funding the deal in part by forgiving debt owed to ESL Investments. Sears' unsecured creditors have objected to its use.
On Tuesday, Lampert seemed unable to bridge the gap, and his offer was effectively dead, people familiar with the matter said. In a conversation with the bankruptcy judge, however, ESL and Sears were instructed to wrap up a deal.
From 11 p.m. Tuesday to 2 a.m Wednesday ET, Sears, ESL and their advisors worked furiously to figure out a solution. Ultimately, ESL moved its offer up by roughly $150 million, including taking on more liabilities, one of the people said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
He hasn’t finished looting the stores yet.
Agenda Item 1.
Close all K mart stores effective immediately
Agenda Item 2
Sell all kMart properties
Too late for ours.
Ours closed on Dec 31.
Our K-Mart will close on March 15th...................
“He’s dead Jim”
JC Penny’s is next
By the way.....
The local Sears mall anchor store was closed.
The Mall owners buldozed what once was Sears. It is gone
It’s just a shame to see these once great store chains bite the dust one after another.
If he’s serious about saving those 400 stores, (jury still out on that one) they may want to consider changing the name.
The Sears & Roebuck legacy, mystique and fame is limited to the distant past only. Any Sears memories from year 2000 forward are likely those of customer dissatisfaction and the nearly deserted stores with invisible cashiers.
He’s also the chairman (founder) of the investment company that bailed Sears out and whom he’s been seeking pieces of Sears off through.
This whole thing reeks to high heaven of a scam/embezzlement and I’m surprised he hasn’t been investigated yet.
shall we close the internet?
They lost it soon after they became “the softer side of Sears.”
This whole thing reeks to high heaven of a scam/embezzlement and I’m surprised he hasn’t been investigated yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Put Mueller on the case. Trump and the Russians are most certainly behind it all.
price match Amazon
Take the PC crap out.
Learn there are more than 2 generations. NOT much for Seniors in clothing. Nor are we all into Street Walker clothes for any generation or African stuff. COST was another turn off.
Last time I walked into 1 was about 6 Christmas’ ago, got about 5 ft in, turned around and walked out, when the Man-— GOD tells you flee the cesspool, you listen to that small ‘still’ voice. 1 Bare wreath in the store was visible and it was well into Dec. Not been back since.
Why?!
The local Sears mall anchor store was closed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here in Minneapolis they are mostly gone. Eden Prairie went last year. Ridgedale Mall went a few weeks ago.
I actually went to the one in the Mall of America on Monday.
I have been to the Mall of America or a Sears in many years. I wanted to get some filters for a shop vac but the shelves were pretty empty.
The name Sears may be going away but everything they sold is available in a hundred other stores. And you can get the same crappy service and non existent cashiers and salespeople at most any store nowadays.
It’s just a shame to see these once great store chains
bite the dust one after another.
**********
True but things change over the years and they must
adapt and change with the times.
Here’s the long and short:
Sears was the top of the heap retailer in the US for a long time - but they failed to learn the hard lessons as time went by, refusing to change anything until they had fallen way behind. Then they had an identity crisis - charging mid to higher-end retail prices for products that were Walmart to Target quality. Their hardware (Craftsmen hadn’t tools and power tools) began searching for identity while moving all production to China (with a decrease in quality). Appliance branding (Kenmore), once considered high quality (even though made by other, well-known companies) began declining in quality as well when Sears moved from specification-driven contracting to commodity pricing-driven contracts.
Sears small engine (also Craftsman-branded) equipment including mowers, edgers, etc., was manufactured by MTD - and most was of the low-end “Murray” quality - while charging near John Deere prices.
Then - a stroke of genius for a dying company - buy a near bankrupt dying low-end retailer (Kmart) to further drain the books. Then brand share (further eroding any perceived value in your branding). You know - Kmart - the big box retailer that had been losing to Walmart for decades already - the ghetto-queen stores that were often dirty, disorganized, and poorly run in general...
Sears refused to adapt and find their identity - instead continuing in their losing ways - along comes Lampert to lead them... into further abyss of debt and failure... leading them right into bankruptcy - then his own company comes along to “bail them out”... seriously? This is beyond conflict of interest and a twisted form of ultimate manipulation. Just wow... The folks leading the Sears board are fools.
Last time I stepped foot in a Sears was a store closing liquidation. 10 cents on the dollar for most stuff. Products were worth that! Funny - there were small appliances in open boxes marked down.... supposedly 50% off, which brought the price down to what pretty much all other retailers were selling the exact same item for every single day!
RIP Sears.
Yep - JC Penny is from the same mindset as Sears - and has made many of the same mistakes (though didn’t go so far as to buy an already nearly-dead massive retail company). One difference - Penny’s does have some of their own branding in their men’s clothing that is really pretty nice stuff - particularly men’s clothing (not their low-end Arizona stuff) like Stafford. Sadly- that isn’t enough to save them. Penny’s has an identity crisis much as Sears does - they can’t decide if they are a family-friendly, budget-conscious retailer, or a wanna-be high-end retailer with under-performing products.
He’s the one who’s drove it into the ground for the last 2 decades... can’t see him turning this around...
Shame too... Sears, who built itself on mail order, never seemed to be able to move back to it with the internet,....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.