Sears liquidation looms after $4.4bn takeover deal faulters

zimmer said:

Dying companies getting the last shred of value extracted from them is not predatory. It is the same as people selling cars to junkyards for scrap. They’re extracting the last bit of value too... and those selling to the liquidators, are doing so too.

You would prefer they just die, and their measly assets rot to nothing? How does this serve society?

PS. forgot to provide the name of the company the anti-American Socialist Gerhard Schroeder had the taxpayer fund... Philipp Holzmann AG. 1849-2002.

View attachment 67248034

Liquidating the company when they failed would have been better for everyone, including the German taxpayer. In fact, a competitor could have bought the company and name, and “saved” it, using the former biggest German construction company as a subsidiary. Instead, the name was so toxic after Schroeder bailed it out, the name was worthless.

Click to expand...

The grocery store chain that got looted wasn't dying until they killed it.

zimmer said:

Yeah, that supercomputer you hold in your hand with a phone app... that would have been produced in a world without people looking out for their own self interests.

Doom is what happens when you protect failure... like the federal government has done for eons. Instead of letting failed departments shutter, they get more money, grow ever larger and more incompetent. It’s how our government has amassed well over 220 TRILLION in unfunded liabilities and debt.

Businesses either adapt or fail. That’s life. It’s for the better of all that this happens, as we get better goods & services at better prices this way. SEARS had its moment, and was surpassed by others who looked out for their customer better than they did.

WALMART has done more to help families stretch their budgets than the Democrat Party could ever dream of doing. They have saved families thousands annually. Something the Democrats claim they want to do, but never achieve. In fact, they always seem to do the opposite, and then bitch, moan and cry when tax cuts are proposed.

Click to expand...

You're talking about Walmart and smart phones? That has absolutely nothing to do with Eddie Lampert.
Butt out until you can figure out how to talk about the issue at hand.

ROTFLOL

Helix said:

The grocery store chain that got looted wasn't dying until they killed it.

Click to expand...

Obviously it wasn’t a good business. Or they weren’t good at running their acquisition.

Or...

...As Buffett says... When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.

Grocery stores are a brutally tough business.

Buffett invested in a couple such dogs... a Department store, Dempster, and his own vehicle which provided a trickle of revenue for him to reinvest... Berkshire Hathaway. He also invested in cigar butt companies... only to shed the security when he sucked the last of the cash out of it.

Yesterday, my wife and I stopped into the local K-Mart which now has the "STORE CLOSING" sign outside, the first time we've been in there in close to a year. And honestly, as we were walking around, they were no different now than they were the last time we were in, or any time we've been in for the last couple of decades. Other than all the clearance signs, it is as badly staffed, badly stocked, badly maintained as it has been for a very, very long time. That's why they're dead, because they have nothing on the shelves, have terrible employees who don't care and their prices are higher than comparable retailers. At least Walmart cleans up and occasionally puts things on the shelves. K-Mart doesn't and hasn't for a very long time. Sears is every bit as bad these days, the last time I stepped foot in a Sears, years ago now, I went in for something very simple that they should have had. They didn't. I went to Walmart a block away and there it was. It's a no-brainer why people don't shop there, they don't have anything to buy!

Good riddance K-Mart and Sears. You failed. It's your own fault.

That's the reality of capitalism.

If consumers no longer want to patronize you, you must close down.

Sad. Brutal. Effective.

Even Mr. Bezos predicts that one day Amazon will close down. I hope not!

(Personally, I can't wait for Mr. Bezos's Washington Post to close down. It has been beastly toward our President.)

zimmer said:

ROTFLOL

Obviously it wasn’t a good business. Or they weren’t good at running their acquisition.

Or...

...As Buffett says... When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.

Grocery stores are a brutally tough business.

Buffett invested in a couple such dogs... a Department store, Dempster, and his own vehicle which provided a trickle of revenue for him to reinvest... Berkshire Hathaway. He also invested in cigar butt companies... only to shed the security when he sucked the last of the cash out of it.

Click to expand...

the business was solvent until it was gutted. like i said, you and i aren't going to agree on this one.

jimbo said:

That it is. Once proudly made in the USA and guaranteed forever, today no guarantee on Chinese made junk.

Next time at Lowes, take at the tool chests. Once among the best, now Lowes loss leader.

Click to expand...

Harbor Freight are the tools to buy.
Most have a lifetime warranty and excellent prices.

Helix said:

the business was solvent until it was gutted. like i said, you and i aren't going to agree on this one.

Click to expand...

You have their numbers? Was it a public company? What is it’s name, and when did it close?

TheParser said:

That's the reality of capitalism.

If consumers no longer want to patronize you, you must close down.

Sad. Brutal. Effective.

Even Mr. Bezos predicts that one day Amazon will close down. I hope not!

(Personally, I can't wait for Mr. Bezos's Washington Post to close down. It has been beastly toward our President.)

Click to expand...

When and if Amazon closes, the alternatives will be even better.

Cephus said:

Yesterday, my wife and I stopped into the local K-Mart which now has the "STORE CLOSING" sign outside, the first time we've been in there in close to a year. And honestly, as we were walking around, they were no different now than they were the last time we were in, or any time we've been in for the last couple of decades. Other than all the clearance signs, it is as badly staffed, badly stocked, badly maintained as it has been for a very, very long time. That's why they're dead, because they have nothing on the shelves, have terrible employees who don't care and their prices are higher than comparable retailers. At least Walmart cleans up and occasionally puts things on the shelves. K-Mart doesn't and hasn't for a very long time. Sears is every bit as bad these days, the last time I stepped foot in a Sears, years ago now, I went in for something very simple that they should have had. They didn't. I went to Walmart a block away and there it was. It's a no-brainer why people don't shop there, they don't have anything to buy!

Good riddance K-Mart and Sears. You failed. It's your own fault.

Click to expand...

Watch out for ALDI, Lidl to upset the grocery stores across America... especially ALDI. It’s an amazingly efficient company with great staff... it’s a company Sam Walton would have picked up a few things from were he alive today.

Checkerboard Strangler said:

You're talking about Walmart and smart phones? That has absolutely nothing to do with Eddie Lampert.
Butt out until you can figure out how to talk about the issue at hand.

Click to expand...

I’m talking about business and how it functions... call it Business 101... something you seems to need assistance with.

You can thank me later.

zimmer said:

Watch out for ALDI, Lidl to upset the grocery stores across America... especially ALDI. It’s an amazingly efficient company with great staff... it’s a company Sam Walton would have picked up a few things from were he alive today.

Click to expand...

The ALDI up here is just pointless. We stopped in there, hearing that they had a wide variety of products and nope... nothing. It's not even remotely convenient to go to.

Cephus said:

The ALDI up here is just pointless. We stopped in there, hearing that they had a wide variety of products and nope... nothing. It's not even remotely convenient to go to.

Click to expand...

They supply oft sold essentials at prices better than the competition. They’ve kicked ass every market they’ve entered. I expect it’ll be the same in the US.

WALMART pulled out of Germany due to the competition.

zimmer said:

They supply oft sold essentials at prices better than the competition. They’ve kicked ass every market they’ve entered. I expect it’ll be the same in the US.

WALMART pulled out of Germany due to the competition.

Click to expand...

When that happens, fine. Until it happens, I've got no reason to seek them out. So far, I'm not impressed. They have a very limited selection of products regardless.

Cephus said:

When that happens, fine. Until it happens, I've got no reason to seek them out. So far, I'm not impressed. They have a very limited selection of products regardless.

Click to expand...

That’s you... they’ve built a power house on a simple platform... which excels at cutting man hours/staff to a minimum, and providing quality products at really low prices.

They’re huge on quality control.

beefheart said:

Eh, I am going to keep shopping at Montgomery Wards

Click to expand...

Pretty good I used to go there more often than Sears. One really good Sears store 4 or 5 stories IIRC in downtown Detroit.

We lived in the most northwest corner you could, just blocks from boundaries north and west.

Too bad too as the Montgomery Wards as we knew...vanished 2001. Woolworths tried to become WoolCo.,

Kresge's tried to become K-Mart and just didn't like others, go to China as soon as Walton did. (Walmart)

Wards online only now since 2004.

There are more to follow. The GAP, T.J. Maxx, 99cent store. No retailer can remain beholden to a single price.

Look for other so-called dollar stores to go under. Can't stay at a dollar forever.

Look at Apple. [It] couldn't keep it up forever. They had successfully kept up volume AND margin.

One had to suffer and trying to keep raising the price...volume soon slowed.

Apple calls these, the low end ?

The iPhone XS Max starts at $1,099, the Apple Watch Series 4 starts at $399, the new iPad Pro starts at $799 and the new MacBook Air starts at $1,199. The company is keeping prices pretty consistent on the low-end for iPhone and iPad as it continues to sell older units; that isn’t as true of Mac, which has seen a fairly uniform price bump in the most recent generations of devices with a $4,999 iMac Pro rounding out the high end.

Look for deals on all phones just as Buffet inspired in auto (household) insurance even if you don't

and in fact and are not very likely to...save anything with Geico.

zimmer said:

That’s you... they’ve built a power house on a simple platform... which excels at cutting man hours/staff to a minimum, and providing quality products at really low prices.

They’re huge on quality control.

Click to expand...

Yes, that's me. I'm only concerned with me. Why would I care about anyone else?

Cephus said:

When that happens, fine. Until it happens, I've got no reason to seek them out. So far, I'm not impressed. They have a very limited selection of products regardless.

Click to expand...

Yea, Walmart sold 85 stores in Germany and lost a couple billion or so over 8 1/2 years. Left and sold 16 stores in S. Korea.

Closed a store and pulled out of Quebec when the employees voted to join a union.

Walmart needs to stick to the borderline countries that don't have strong unions and where most consumers are in debt and don't have much

discretionary consumer spending without it...like the US.

DaveFagan said:

Hedge funds have been ripping off retirement funds repeatedly and getting away with it. I'm wondering how the Sears retirement funds are doing? Are they protected? Are they vulnerable? How about KMart?
/

Click to expand...

NO they are not !! Owners of Hostess went in and clearly stole the pension fund, taken to court, ruled they could keep it and

every retiree was f*cked. Did have some socialism for the rich though when the robber barons foisted that on the PBGC.

For those unfamiliar, the US cannot have a FHIC to insure your health, oh no. That would be socialism for society.

All the US can afford is to provide a single-payer, govt.-run insurance for banks (FDIC), crops (FCIC) and overseas investor

(OPIC) and then the above. So the capitalist can lay on the govt. and taxpayers to provide a guaranteed 1/3

of employees original retirement. Isn't that precious ? Stealing pensions is a tough job but the capitalist is up to the task

and has his courts to protect him.

Blogroids, here are the American capitalist values in a microcosm:

Greedy capitalist scum on wall street defraud literally billion$ through securities that were as smelly as could be, knew they were, borrowed

to skim more, it all went belly up I think 7 banks and AIG were bankrupt, ith TARP...got their pay and some $37 million in bonuses.

Employees, not much at all if not laid off... of a job.


Hostess management take million$ in salaries and bonuses, leverages the company, gets continuing union concessions to finance their greed.

When the unions said no more...declared bankruptcy, walk away from their debts and steal the multi-million$ pension, the taxpayer makes 1/3 whole.

I call that greed avarice, fraud, that pays and pays well with taxpayers standing by and is...socialism and thievery...for the rich.

This not only is not the great glorious free market, free enterprise, law & order society that seeks to reflect some moral values.

NO, this is unfettered greedy capitalist scum, who will end this country as no. 1 in so much and is a reflection of the outright immorality of capitalism and an example of why the best capitalist...is a sociopath.