Sears Holdings spent $US5.8 billion buying back shares from 2005 to 2010, draining the company of resources. CEO Eddie Lampert defended the buybacks as the most efficient use of capital, arguing that investment in stores wasn’t necessary. The company — considered the most vulnerable publicly traded retailer — is now selling off assets to stay afloat. Sears has survived two world wars and the Great Depression. But after a decade under the control of a former Goldman Sachs executive turned hedge fund manager, the 124-year-old retailer is imploding. Sales have been cut in half since 2009, and the company is burning through cash, closing hundreds of stores, and selling off assets in an attempt to stanch the bleeding. Executives are fleeing and store workers face a grim future. A debt repayment from a $US500 million loan facility is looming, and some suppliers are trying to cancel contracts and cut back on orders amid fears that the company could soon go bankrupt. The man in charge of Sears, Edward S. Lampert, has blamed the company’s decline on everything from shifts in consumer spending to the rise of e-commerce, and even — at times — the weather. More recently, he’s taken to attacking the media, saying reports speculating on a Sears bankruptcy are thwarting his efforts to turn the business around. “Every time people use the word bankruptcy, somebody who reads that doesn’t get past that word,” he told the Chicago Tribune in a recent interview. “It makes it very unfair for… [Read full story]
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