Sears declares chapter 11 bankruptcy

[uncharted]

Sears, the once American retail giant, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.


https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/15/sear...ankruptcy.html

Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy 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 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 towards the end of the year end. It expects to begin liquidation sales shortly.

[kpitcher]

another corpse caused by a hedge fund raider that will come out ahead after all the other stockholders lose money.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ye...ine-2018-05-30

[CaptUSA]

I blame internet porn.

Kids these days no longer need that Sears catalog.

[RJ Liberty]

another corpse caused by a hedge fund raider that will come out ahead after all the other stockholders lose money.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ye...ine-2018-05-30

Exactly. He'll make more from selling the properties than he ever made from them as stores. He'll strip out the pension fund and then line his pockets from the sale of the stores.

I'm sad to see both Sears and Kmart wither away and die, especially as the US gov is personally financing their collapse by supporting Amazon, to the tune of billions of dollars every year.

[dannno]

Their automotive department got in trouble back in '92 for systematically over selling customers on services they didn't need.

Ever since then, I've found they have been a pretty good place to get car maintenance done, tires, etc.

[jmdrake]

I blame internet porn.

Kids these days no longer need that Sears catalog.

LOL You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to CaptUSA again.

[r3volution 3.0]

They sell a lot of products that would have been affected by the tariffs.

...not that that's the root cause (which goes back further), but it can't have helped.

[brushfire]

The catalog company that missed the internet. Instead, their brilliant leadership chased Nordstrom. They shunned their heritage, just like VW did to the compact car, and HD did with the development of the v-rod. "We're not a catalog company any more - we sell more than tools... Come see our softer side".

Morons... What was wrong with being the catalog king? The same morons that shrugged off the catalog went and acquired lands end (a catalog company), after spending tons trying to shed their catalog reputation. What was wrong with tools? People were willing to pay more to buy craftsman - the screwdriver/prybar/chisel that was a must have for the average household.

How's that shareholder value treatin' ya? Hey, maybe after the company is a total ash heap, ridding them selves of their "executive talent", and shareholder value, they can start an online catalog business?

[DamianTV]

[AZJoe]

Death Of An Icon: A Day Of Reckoning Has Finally Arrived For One Of America’s Most Important Institutions



After 125 years, it is time to say goodbye. At one time, Sears was the largest retailer that the world had ever seen by a very wide margin, and it was a shining representation of America’s seemingly endless prosperity. But now the end has come, and Sears will be liquidated. …

In the aftermath of this debacle creditors will fight over the remaining scraps on the carcass, and everyone that worked for Sears will soon be out of a job. On Friday the company announced the closing of 80 more stores, but as the liquidation proceeds eventually all of them will be closing. …

Of course Sears is far from the only major retailer that is in very deep trouble. Major chains have been closing thousands of locations all over the country, and this includes areas of the nation that have supposedly been prospering economically in recent years. For example, just check out what has been happening in New York City…
According to a new report, Opens a New Window. for the first time in 11 years, nationally known chains such as Subway, Aerosoles, Au Bon Pain and a slew of others are closing more stores in New York City than they’re opening.
The Center for an Urban Future found that a record 124 retailers have reduced their store footprint over the past year, nearly double the 65 retailers that cut back store locations last year. …

On a much grander scale, the same thing is true for the nation as a whole. During 2018, we were able to kick the can down the road a little bit longer by adding nearly 1.4 trillion dollars more to the national debt. State and local government debt loads are at record levels, corporate debt has doubled since the last financial crisis, and U.S. consumers are more than 13 trillion dollars in debt. The name of the game is “extend and pretend”, and the only reason why we have been able to enjoy a standard of living that is far, far greater than we have earned is because we have been able to borrow giant mountains of money at super low interest rates. But now interest rates are starting to climb, and our unsustainable debt levels are becoming increasingly overwhelming.

Just like Sears, it is inevitable that we will experience our own day of reckoning. America is dying too, but most Americans seem completely oblivious to what is happening. …

[acptulsa]

another corpse caused by a hedge fund raider that will come out ahead after all the other stockholders lose money.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ye...ine-2018-05-30

Next up: CSX Transportation.

[Krugminator2]

another corpse caused by a hedge fund raider that will come out ahead after all the other stockholders lose money.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ye...ine-2018-05-30

Exactly. He'll make more from selling the properties than he ever made from them as stores. He'll strip out the pension fund and then line his pockets from the sale of the stores.

Actually he lost his shirt. His net worth dropped by two-thirds since he took over as Chairman. It is interesting to see the Communist perspective here though.

Here is the reality. K-Mart was already bankrupt when he took over. It was just coming out of Chapter 11. Sears was on life support. Basically no retailer has ever come back to thrive after having problems like that. Lampert gave it his best effort and it didn't work. His life would have been a lot easier if he just kept managing his hedge fund. Instead he took on a different challenge.

Here is the capitalist view. US business was uncompetitive in the 1970s. You had tons of companies that traded below their asset values because management and unions had no stake in the company and just used it as a piggy bank. The boards were composed of people put there by management. And shareholders had no recourse because they were spread out and unorganized. Guys like Carl Icahn pooled money together and started pressuring these companies that were headed to zero to cut costs and pay themselves less or else he would just buy the company and sell off the assets. Those companies were worth more dead than alive. Today you don't see that many companies like that because those evil hedge fund raiders made America productive again. As Walter Block might say "Corporate raiders are heroes".

[Schifference]

Shows how when a company doesn't transition with the times they fade away.