On the record · Other
Sears / Kmart
Once America's largest retailer, stripped by Eddie Lampert's ESL Investments. Sold off Craftsman, Lands' End, DieHard brands while stores deteriorated. From 3,500 stores to ~5. Over 250,000 jobs lost.
Also known as Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Research depth
Outcomes researched
Reviewed operating findings or a classified operating outcome are available.
Record updated Sept. 4, 2026
Current ownership
Current owner not established
This record does not identify a current owner. That absence is a gap in the record, not a conclusion about ownership.
1 ownership record has an unresolved current/former status.
Ownership and transaction history
Chronology from recorded ownership periods, transactions and reviewed outcome events. Event order does not imply causation.
Date not recorded
What happened under and after ownership
Operating outcome
Operating through distress or restructuring
Sears Holdings filed Chapter 11 in October 2018; ESL Investments bought it as a going concern in February 2019 through a new entity, Transformco.
Store count has continued shrinking under Transformco; as of January 2026, five Sears stores and three Kmart locations remained open.
- Founded
- 1892
- Peak headcount
- 350,000
- Sponsor at closure
- ESL Investments
- Cause
- Sale-leaseback · with deferred capital investment
- Forbes · 2026 · five remaining Sears stores and their locations, as of January 2026
- Axios · 2024 · last full-size Kmart in the continental US closed; remaining Kmart locations are in Miami, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands
- Yahoo Finance · Sears founded 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah C. Roebuck; employed over 350,000 people at its peak in the 1950s-60s
- Retail Dive · 2019 · Sears' own bankruptcy-estate lawsuit alleged Eddie Lampert and ESL Investments transferred billions of dollars of company assets, including through the 2015 Ser
- The American Prospect · 2018 · describes Lampert's 2015 sale-leaseback of 235 Sears/Kmart properties to Seritage Growth Properties (in which Lampert's ESL held a 43.5% stake) for $2.7 billion
What we do not know
These are gaps in the public record, not findings about the organization.
- No current public ownership assessment has been published.
Help improve this record
Firsthand experience, public sources and corrections can help close the gaps above.