Struggling retailer Sears Holdings Corp. has bought itself some breathing room through maneuvers that include the sale of its Craftsman brand for $900 million and the closure of 150 additional stores as it grapples with a prolonged sales slump and mounting losses, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The company has suffered through several weak quarters and warned yesterday that same-store sales fell as much as 13 percent in November and December. Over the past five years it has booked $8.2 billion in cumulative losses. The moves by Sears Holdings this week coupled with the injection of $1 billion in financing from its controlling shareholder and chief executive, Edward Lampert, helped shares climb off recent lows and reassured suppliers, who had grown increasingly uneasy over the retailer’s prospects.
