The only reason Sears and Kmart remain in operation is to pay rent to Seritage so it can service the massive amounts of debt that Seritage owes to Warren Buffet and other parties. Seritage, a Real Estate Investment Trust, whose very existence is to pay its investors money has been in big trouble since its biggest renter was Sears Holdings. As it's diversified its portfolio away from Sears, the rent hasn't been nearly enough to makeup for the shortfall for the losses from the Sears stores. Eddie hasn't been able to lease the real estate for as much as he thought as the B and C malls Sears inhabits have declined into c-ap (in no small part because they have Sears in it, because Eddie's wing of the mall never attracts customers, oops I mean his psychotic predilection to call them members), and the remediation costs from Eddie's years of neglect also take away from any profitability that may have materialized. Before COVID-19, most people were looking to buy, and at fire sale prices because it's a buyer's market as consumers have been fleeing malls, which is why there have been sales to a lot of U-Hauls and Amazons, which can profit from the space by having the people literally doing nothing, something Eddie managed only to lose tens of billions in revenue streams, asset value, and profit with the exact same space. Now with the costs of operation exceeding the revenue coming in, even in an anticipated bankruptcy scenario where Sears AGAIN washes itself of all the debt it has taken, Eddie is going to screw associates, screw vendors, screw creditors, and everyone else involved, because that's what Eddie does. Like the out of touch with reality delusional in his bunker guy he is, he's still going to make a go with Shop Your Way, because he thinks the garbage data of people loss leader Boomers who are about to be retired is somehow worth something to somebody. Good luck doing with that, starting with no capital and a dead reputation.
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Seritage just reported it collected less than half its rent because of the coronavirus and is diluting its shares to oblivion to raise cash too. No wonder Eddie is coming out of his cave to blog about how everyone needs to start shopping again. Can't imagine Autonation is going to do well in the year to come with auction houses completely flooded with used cars they can't get rid of. All is not well in Eddieville.
Ah Seritage, where the assets and stock price keep on going down, the losses, and debt keep on going up, and the creditors and shareholders keep on getting ever more nervous. Another Eddie production [tm]
I dont know about all this.
OP: Where is this rent money coming from? Eddie knows the game well enough to not have put a real penny when acquiring transformco from the BK court, all was loan money. But who then would loan him money? Are these loans insured against the inevitable next default?
I am watching this sequel, past the closing titles at this point, wondering why there are others stll sitting at theatre. I guess we are all trying to understand the plot.
Just who is left in Eddie’s “bunker” these days? Has anyone seen or heard from the 3 Amigos who are allegedly running the show? Seems like everyone has disappeared, no advertising, no PR no one even seems to be rallying the troops during the pandemic.