this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2025
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Today I Learned

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Basically, the company had to pay for its own buyout when private equity firms KKL, Vornado, and Bain bought the company for $6.6 billion, mostly with loans.

Because the company then had to pay off those extreme loans, they were forced to sell off their assets and property, which they leased back from the very private equity firms that now owned them.

The same thing happened more recently with Red Lobster and JoAnn Fabrics.

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[–] DicJacobus@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

TRU is still in Canada, but its starting to rapidly die all of a sudden.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 17 hours ago

I just love private equity

[–] jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 3 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Eddie Lampert set the gold standard for corporate raiding in the 21st century when he orchestrated the Sears/KMart merger and then spent the next 18+ years liquidating all of Sears Holdings fixed assets.

Drowning the company in the bathtub on one hand while on the other, constantly crying to anyone who would listen about the struggles of retail. Buying up the retailers debt to create the public image of a benevolent shareholder who just wanted to offer lifeline after lifeline.

It took a lot longer than some of the smaller private equity takeovers. The combined organization was enormous at the time of the merger in 2004 and still very much financially viable. It's even possible that Lampert intended to make an earnest go at the retail business initially. Although I kind of doubt it. Either way, at some point he figured it was more profitable for him to slowly liquidate the business than continue trying to compete in a harsh retail environment.

It took years for creditors to figure out what was happening and the general public never really caught on. Lampert is a greedy bastard but I have to admire his incredibly patient handling of that whole situation, which was honestly brilliant.

20 years later, Sears and KMart have gone the way of Montgomery Ward, even if their websites are still functioning. Tens of thousands of people lost their jobs and Eddie Lampert is far wealthier than he was when he started.

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[–] desmosthenes@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

yea shame - fuck bain and the mormons lol

[–] Hermit_Lailoken@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Mitt Romney worked for Bain Capital.

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[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

Bust-out.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPtjyqgZAUk

Check the highlighted comment. 😄

[–] uberdroog@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

A song as old as time

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 2 points 23 hours ago

The thing that blow my mind is, who is loaning these Private Equity firms all this money?

They have to know how it works.

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