Sears To Cut 400 Corporate Jobs

HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL — In an effort to right its financial ship, Sears Holdings is cutting around 400 full-time corporate jobs, mostly from its Hoffman Estates headquarters, the retail company Tuesday. The job cuts are the latest cost-saving measures by Sears this year, which have also included closing nearly 200 stores by the end of 2017. The company hopes to save $1.25 billion annually with these moves.

"We are making progress with the fundamental restructuring of our operations that we initiated in February," Sears chairman and CEO Edward S. Lampert said in a statement released Tuesday, June 13. "We remain focused on realigning our business model in an evolving and highly competitive retail environment. This requires us to optimize our store footprint and operate as a leaner and simpler organization."

While most of the jobs eliminated Tuesday come from Sears' base of operations in Hoffman Estates, the retail chain also will be cutting positions in their field operations. Before letting go of its full-time employees, Sears first eliminated open positions and reduced contract employees, the company said. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest Arlington Heights news. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Along with the job cuts, Sears also gave an update on the other parts of its strategic restructuring Tuesday. Here's what it outline in its release:

• So far, the company has made $1.0 billion in annualized cost savings, which includes the full-time job eliminations.
• It has paid down about $418 million in outstanding term loans the company's revolving credit facility.
• The company has taken steps to reduce the overall size of its pension plan by signing a deal with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to annuitize $515 million of pension liability.
• Real estate properties owned by Sears have been monetized to generate more than $200 million.

Sears' cuts and restructuring after the retailer admitted in March that intense competition from "big box" stores, such as Wal-Mart and Target, and online sellers, like Amazon.com, were threatening its survival, and the company needs to make changes if it wants to remain. In May, Sears reported a 20 percent drop in revenue 11.9 percent drop in sales at established stores.

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