Sears CEO to open his wallet again to keep retailer afloat

[TexasTowelie]

Sears Holdings Corp. Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert is opening his wallet once again to help keep the struggling retailer in business, a move that could help placate vendors after an uncertain holiday season.

Lampert, a hedge fund manager and Sears's biggest investor, will offer a $200 million letter of credit to the department-store chain through affiliates of his firm, ESL Investments Inc.

The amount could be expanded to as much as $500 million with the consent of lenders, according to a statement Thursday.

The move signals that Lampert remains committed to bankrolling Sears, even as the business suffers from dwindling sales and billions in red ink.

Read more: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/11708041-74/sears-credit-lampert

[FarCenter]

1. Can't imagine Eddie being charitable - what does he get in return?

[awoke_in_2003]

2. Well, his stock prices probably stay up...

if they are afloat, and if Sears does fail he will just write it off. These fuckers never lose.

[sarcasmo]

3. It's the only move where this makes sense. Keep the price up long enough to dump and get

$$$ back.

[awoke_in_2003]

4. Yep...

and it saddens me. Sears is an American icon, where you used to be able to buy the best made tools short of Snap On and Mac.

[sarcasmo]

6. Shocked I still see Kmart stores.

[awoke_in_2003]

7. I'm in Texas

haven't seen a K Mart in at least a decade.

[sarcasmo]

8. There is a K-mart still open in Ft Walton Beach, Florida.

[HeartachesNhangovers]

5. Possibly any real estate owned by Sears.

[FarCenter]

14. That is probably his deal - real estate on Sears books at historical prices to raid

[edhopper]

9. Not his wallet

He is using the Hedge Fund he manages, it's other people's money.

He is time running Sears has been a Ayn Randian nightmare.

[BluegrassDem]

10. K-Mart has better quality merchandise than Wal-Mart

We have a few K-Marts around central Kentucky. I always found their clothing to be better made than the crap in Wal Mart even though they're more expensive. It's just that the stores are old and kinda run down. I hope they sell it and get a buyer that's willing to put money in to bring it up to par.

[wishstar]

11. We have two KMarts near me in N.C.- I buy all our family clothes/household stuff there

Much more pleasant, less crowded than Walmart. I also get meds at K-Mart pharmacy as price is lowest for our particular generics.

I constantly get substantial surprise bonus points so I buy great clothes incredibly cheaply there or at Sears nearby. They are not making any profit though from my being a customer as i wait until I have bonus points to shop there. I also shop online and have the items shipped to either K-Mart or Sears for pickup so no shipping fee.

I will hate if my K-Marts or Sears close.

[RegexReader]

16. funny how that works out

their clothing to be better made than the crap in Wal Mart even though they're more expensive.

stuff made by child slave labor is always cheaper, and no one sees the tear stains of those that made them.



I'm torn between having fully automated factories in the US to end the 'need' for cheap foreign labor(aka wage slaves)
vs.
the sheer greed of the CEO's that would use such automation to throw every worker to the streets.

The bottom line is that we're subsidizing slavery overseas by buying this Walmart crap in the same manner that Europe subsidized slavery in the US in the 1800's by buying the cheap US made cotton.

[Raine]

12. I would hate to see Sears go out of business. My father worked there till he

retired, I'll always have a special feeling for the them.

[pstokely]

13. you're not expecting tRump to make Sears great again, are you?

[Raine]

19. Oh sure...

I should live so long!

[Vinca]

15. It's very sad what happened to Sears.

As an older person, I remember the "Wish Book" when I was a little kid. We'd pore over it and send not so subtle hints about what we wanted for Christmas. As an adult, I bought all of our first appliances at Sears and continued to buy them there until the stores closed. That's what I don't understand. If you close the stores, how do you expect to sell the merchandise? I've gone online to their site when I've needed a new stove or something, but I really hate buying anything sight unseen. The last thing I bought, a clothes dryer, works perfectly fine but it doesn't have an interior light. If I had seen it at the store I would have bought another model. I'm now in the market for a new fridge and I'd love to buy from Sears, but you can't buy fruit from an empty cart, can you?

[edhopper]

17. What is really going on at Sears

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-11/at-sears-eddie-lamperts-warring-divisions-model-adds-to-the-troubles

And again, he is not loaning Sears HIS MONEY. He is using the Hedge Fund he controls. It's the investor's money!

[hunter]

18. Sears could have been what Amazon is now.

Instead it was taken over by a bunch of dullards who saw it as a "property." Real estate, brand names, etc....