I agree that at this point, with smart management and with tromendous work Sears could be saved. I just don't see Eddie Lampert in that picture. The man who gave the biggest contibution to Sears being in this state simpy can't be part of the solution.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/company-news/video/sears-could-be-saved-lampert-not-the-right
He already has tried to force a cultural change, and all we got was pointless morning meetings and a cult chant. Nobody knows or cares what the “cultural value of the month” is, much less what it is supposed to mean.
Unless!!!!! Unless this whole process was meant for Eddie to clean up the legacy balance sheet and force a cultural change so that something completely different can be done. This gives him the avenue to now say “we’ve tried it that way and it doesn’t work. Here’s what we’re going to do instead and now we have some capital maneuverability to do it”
Hey. I can be hopeful at least!
qto
He don't need a boat he's got a giant effing yacht "Fountainhead"
The hearing is currently scheduled for 2/4. Numerous objections have already been raised, and this latest vendor is going to need a really good reason for declining to take part until the very end of the process. In all likelihood, the BK judge is going to ignore/overrule the objections and approve the sale. Those objecting to the sale will then have to file formal lawsuits/appeals to the SDNY and with the way ESL is talking they’ll take it as far as they can, which means the 2d Circuit. 5-7 years before the litigation over this ends, minimum. In the meantime, the sale will proceed and Transform/ESL will take over the remains of SHC. By the time the litigation over the sale is finished, there will be nothing left of the SHC assets ESL bought for the creditors to seize. Likely result after years of appeals is a finding that “Judge Drain abused his discretion, but there isn’t a remedy that we (the appeals court) can impose that would remedy the problem.” It’s the way the system is designed, and it’s the way the system works. Eddie gets to continue looting Sears, the employees get a few more checks, the unsecured creditors get shafted, and the courts will continue looking the other way. Eddie will continue to loot Sears until it’s all gone within ~18-24 months, unless he has an Elon moment and decides he’s going to prove the haters wrong and show that he can run a successful retailer, costs be damned, but I really don’t see that happening.
Know this , "people love a Cinderella story". People love "Patton". People love the "underdog". Lamperts not pretty like Cindy, doesn't chew on cigars and tote around pearl revolvers like General Patton, nor is he even close to being an underdog. What he is... Money manager who grows money, a trader; we should consider him like a football team owner. He is our show boat, our Jerry Jones. He can go to the Met in a tux, be our Trump (only cooler), but he needs to let people who know how to "shlep" product run the show. Eddie you should take up sailing (it's cool),put a big Searsnewco logo on it and make sure you get the boat on TV in competition. That would be cool. Or maybe on of those C-gare--e boats w logo though not as cool gear heads would dig it. We'll find out in Feb if we're all just blowing hot air.
Vendor ( unsecured creditor) from Hong Kong, with over $60M in claims filed a demand for service today on all documents. Don't be surprised if an objection to the settlement is filed.
Here's a story about the accusations from unsecured creditors worth reading: https://product.costar.com/home/news/shared/1904319926?tag=1
Eddie will own "Sears" if approved by BK judge. Does anyone think he really is going to turn the company around? This just buys him and his real estate company Seritage a few years to deal with the locations it owns. Seritsge would lose $$$$ if Sears is liquidated now.
I'm amazed that now after years of neglect, poor engagement losing millions upon millions of dollars, it has taken filing for bankruptcy for the media/public to declare " Sears can now be saved!"
What's changed?