KMart to Buy Sears in $10.85 Billion Deal

[Evi]

K-Mart sucks and SEARS is going downhill, so it sounds like a perfect marriage They tried competing with Wal-Mart and failed miserably...

The deal, the fourth-biggest retail merger ever, will form the third-largest U.S. retailer by sales. Known as Sears Holdings, it will have $55 billion in annual revenue, nearly 3,500 retail stores and 394,000 employees. Both company names will be used on stores, but some Kmart stores will convert to the venerable Sears nameplate.

Shares of the two companies, both former No. 1\'s in the U.S. retail industry, surged as they outlined plans to stem sliding sales and battle rivals like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - news), now the world\'s biggest retailer.

Some analysts said the deal could set off a wave of consolidation in the retail sector, where smaller players are struggling to survive against the industry leaders.

"This will trigger a lot of activity in the retail sector, with toys and possibly home furnishing companies coming together to become stronger," said Gary Ruffing, head of retail services at management consulting group BBK Ltd.

Others were skeptical that two flagging retail giants, which appear long past their prime, could join forces and challenge such a dominant competitor as Wal-Mart.

"The problem is they are missing a key ingredient -- sales growth," Darrell Rigby, head of the retail practice at consulting firm Bain & Co. "They haven\'t been able to solve their sales problems separately. Can they solve them jointly?"

The merger was the work of Kmart\'s billionaire chairman, Edward Lampert, whose ESL Investments Inc. hedge fund is the largest shareholder in both Kmart and Sears. Lampert told an investors\' meeting that Sears was as good a company as its rivals but needed to be moved out of malls and into free-standing stores.

"Sears in a Kmart box...ought to do very, very well," said Lampert, who will be chairman of Sears Holdings.

He sees Sears, with its 1,971 stores and annual revenue of $41 billion, as the stronger of the two brands, with Kmart struggling to differentiate its 1,504 stores from other discounters but boasting a cash-rich, debt-free business.

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read it earlier, seems like I\'ll never buy anything from a B&M ever again.

[SirMystiq]

Wal-Mart is king.

I don\'t perticularly care for Sears. JC PENNEY BITCH!!!!

I wish I had 10.85 Billion dollars

Originally posted by SirMystiq
Wal-Mart is king.

I don\'t perticularly care for Sears. JC PENNEY BITCH!!!!

I wish I had 10.85 Billion dollars

Target is king.

I worked at K mart for 2 1/2 years before it started taking a big sh!t, merging with sear is a good move to kep it alive. I can\'t Imagine buying Craftman tools at a K Mart..

wal-mart = white trash

I try to avoid it like the plague but sometimes I have to go for name brand merchandise at rock bottom prices

I also prefer Target for odds and ends.  I buy clothes at the mall because I want to be cool.

[Evi]

If you buy clothes at Wal-Mart, then you deserve what\'s coming to you...a shoe hucked at the base of your dome, or a flaming bag of poopie.
Wal-Mart has the worst selection of everything. I only go there as a last resort. The mall is where it\'s at..."G" *cough*No seriously...I always go there for clothes.

I haven\'t been inside a wal-mart in almost 2 years.  Target and Best Buy are all I need.... and my local mills mall.

Wal-mart is too big, gotta support the little guy or there won\'t be any left... there are like 5 wal-mart supercenters within 45 mins of my house

they are freaking everywhere, but they got awesome prices on shit... so I can\'t really blame anyone for shopping in one

[videoholic]

This deal makes no sense to me.  Sears just needs to get away from "The softer side of sears" and sell what it does best APPLIANCES.

They are still the king of appliances, but they are losing that as well if they don\'t watch themselves.

Did anyone else do a double take when you saw who bought who?

How in the hell can K-Mart buy Sears?  THey just filed for protection a couple years ago.

Apparently nothing is going to change.  Just some brand sharing.

I thught it was a joke....K-mart closed a CRAPLOAD of stores and then they go and buy out sears?????

oh and BTW........... Target doesnt support our US troops!  on of my folks frinds son\'s worked there and and had to go to iraq and they wont even give him payed vacation...... and they aree FRENCH!  I have nothing against the french but..........

[Titan]

I get clothes at Sears but I never thought they were anything special. I occasionally bought a shirt or pair of jeans because the mall was too expensive and Wal-Mart was too far. I like Wal-Mart better so maybe I\'ll start shopping there more.

Around here if you ever want to see a side show go to walmart, see some freaks.

And I don\'t know about target not supporting troops, it\'s technically the law that if you get sent out to war you\'ll still have your job when u come back. Why the hell would they give him paid vacation? for a year!? LOL thats what the military is paying him for. I work at Target and I can say it\'s by far the most pleaseant retail job I\'ve ever held. I don\'t plan on quiting anytime soon. They have the top School funding and charities out of all retail stores.

I\'m sick of this support our troops BS, they need to just get back home already and stop fighting W fags war.

[Titan]

So we don\'t support them but bring them home so they feel that they were there getting shot at and dying for no apparent reason but to go there and then suddenly get pulled out and sent home with nothing more than a paycheck and gruesome memories. I say we let them know that we support them and don\'t stop.

Originally posted by Titan
So we don\'t support them but bring them home so they feel that they were there getting shot at and dying for no apparent reason but to go there and then suddenly get pulled out and sent home with nothing more than a paycheck and gruesome memories. I say we let them know that we support them and don\'t stop.

How bout we dont send them to begin with. And do you think they honestly want to be over there? I bet if they all had the opportunity to come back they would take it in a heart beat. Sure support our troops, I\'m just saying I\'m sick of all war and its BS in general.

[Titan]

Originally posted by unknown
How bout we dont send them to begin with. And do you think they honestly want to be over there? I bet if they all had the opportunity to come back they would take it in a heart beat. Sure support our troops, I\'m just saying I\'m sick of all war and its BS in general.

I know what you are saying but do you think I wanted to send them? It was the Administration that sent them and not all the troops don\'t want to be there. Quite a good percentage would stay there (to my knowledge). Your post did seem like you thought supporting the troops was stupid and that we shouldn\'t because you don\'t believe they should be there.

Originally posted by Titan
I know what you are saying but do you think I wanted to send them? It was the Administration that sent them and not all the troops don\'t want to be there. Quite a good percentage would stay there (to my knowledge). Your post did seem like you thought supporting the troops was stupid and that we shouldn\'t because you don\'t believe they should be there.

I don\'t believe they should be there. I have 3 friends in the Navy right now station in Iraqi waters, AND I have a friend who\'s a Marine storming Fallujah right now. 4 friends gone because of a stupid war that had nothing to do with 911. As for my friend in Fallujah I honestly hope he comes back because if he was to die it would destroy his family, only son. And my friend in the navy I practically grew up with them, I get calls and e-mails every few days telling me to say hi to thier parents and to send them pictures of thier families because they miss them, it kills me.