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Sears On Brink Of Bankruptcy, Report Says

After years of store closures, Sears, once the world's largest retailer, could be just days away from facing bankruptcy.

Sears

Sears

Photo Credit: File

The 125-year-old company, which has not turned a profit since 2010, has approached several banks to prepare for a bankruptcy filing, according to CNBC.

Sears has a $134 million debt payment due Monday that it previously reported it cannot cover, the report said.

Eddie Lampert, a hedge-fund manager who took over as Sears CEO in 2013, said in late September that despite changes in the way it does business, the future looked bleak for the once vibrant company.

“The journey to running a member-centric company on a consistently profitable basis has taken far longer than we expected,” Lampert wrote in a lengthy blog post. “Like many other brick and mortar retailers, Sears has encountered very substantial obstacles to profitability as a result of the enormous changes to the retail environment caused by the ever-increasing trend to online shopping.

"We anticipated these changes and reorganized in light of them, but have yet to achieve the results that we desire.”

Sears had previously said there was “substantial doubt” the company would be able to stay in business and sustain as online sales and chains such as Walmart continue to take over the market.

Sears' most recent announcement of planned store closures, of 63, was announced in May. In January, it had announced plans to shut down 39 other stores. Sears currently has 529 stores.

Sears stock, which once traded at more than $100 a share, is down to 40 cents a share.

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