https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevendennis/2017/11/14/sears-dead-brand-walking/?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix&yptr=yahoo#5012e2d3375c
9 replies (most recent on top)
@Qf6aoxt-1pof: .....Sorry, I’m doing the best I can, I guess I’m not as smart as you geniuses here....
Bottom line. You failed as a retail CEO. Nobody will be crazy enough to allow you to get your foot in the door of a retail company ever again. Stick to being the successful hedge fund guru that you are. You'll never make it in retail. And yes, you are not as smart as Jeff Bezos of Amazon is.
While I know that was clearly not a real response from ESL, let me be clear I am far from a disgruntled former employee. I left on completely good terms. I'd also like to get my pension. Second, it's laughable to suggest that I almost single-handedly drove the company into bankruptcy. The main reason is I did not have enough power or authority to do that. I was a staff guy, not the CEO or on the Board or even running the mall stores. Also, the company was clearly not on the road to bankruptcy in 2003. In fact many metrics were turning positive. #FakeNews
Sorry, Eddie, you are not doing the best you can. If that’s all you can do, you have absolutely NO vision or understanding of the retail business. But what did we expect from a hedge fund manager? Your pockets have gotten bigger while this organization sinks deeper. Congrats on accomplishing your true goal, which is to make money for yourself.
Steve Dennis is a disgruntled former employer who almost singlehandedly drove Sears into bankruptcy prior to kmart buying them out. He has written this piece 100 times and admits in the first paragraphs that he wasn’t “smart enough” to figure it out.
When kmart rushed in and saved sears from bankruptcy everyone assumed that there would be a massive liquidation and huge layoffs. The real value was in the property. Ultimately the turnaround hasn’t been as successful as i’d Like but 118,000 employees have gotten to retire with a full pension that wouldn’t have had there been an immediate liquidation (which was a very valid option) not to mention the thousands who seats carried through the recession from 2008-2012.
Sorry, I’m doing the best I can, I guess I’m not as smart as you geniuses here. —
Eddie
@ 1xsi
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You are supposed to honor the pension "obligation" so you're not getting any praise from me there.
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Amazon is hiring seasonal here for $18.25 hour and although no minimum hours are guaranteed, I bet you get more than Sears and you need fewer hours to make the same money anyway. Sounds like if you work for KMart, you job is essentially seasonal at this point anyway.
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Are you sure Kenmore & Diehard are still valued by anyone under the age of 50? I'm not.
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That repair business? If the mysears community is any indication, I would not let those people in my house. Nor should you. When something goes wrong, the so called cs department pretends they can't hear you. And your appliance stays broken.
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Selling or liquidating assets built up in previous times is not the path to a glorious future.
tose 200,000 people would be better off emotionally and financially somewhere else , years ago.
@ixsi. Agree with you completely...
Is that you, Eddie? Giving yourself an undeserved pat on the back, eh?
There are still a few assets left that are not spoken for yet regardless of what anyone says. The Kenmore and Diehard name still have value. Their appliance repair business is profitable. I believe these assets will be sold before bankruptcy unless Sears wants to re emerge as just an appliance store and repair company. They cannot compete with a company like Amazon that is over 1000 times larger in market cap and Amazon doesn't have to worry about making a profit on sales. Amazon's cloud business will enable them to crush any competitor in any business, because they have the power and backing to undercut everyone on sales. I guess the mattress and appliance store is not a terrible idea but the cash hemorrhage cannot continue for Sears much longer. I am pulling for them to turn things around. I give Eddie a lot of credit for not sending 200,000 employees home years ago. He has maneuvered and engineered a way to keep the doors open much longer than anyone anticipated and has done a lot to honor the pension obligations.