RIP Sears

The holding company behind struggling department store chain Sears is about to file for bankruptcy, reports The Daily Beast.

The company has closed hundreds of stores in recent years and Sears CEO Edward Lampert has fought to keep it afloat by stripping out assets. Lampert has reportedly been pushing for a restructuring plan that would keep the company out of bankruptcy court, but its dismal financial status has so far hindered those efforts.

'Fought to keep it afloat' isn't really what asset-stripping is about. They've just run out of things to sell and now the ship needs scuttling so they can sell the fixtures and floorboards too. And void a few hundred thousand pension plans. Then the name gets sold, too, which might obscure the death of a 130-year-old American institution when it gets put on every Big Lots or Dollar General or maybe even the Willis Group, or whoever else buys the corpse.

Photo:
Richard Eriksson