Sears Holdings Corp. CEO Edward Lampert blasted the media for "unfairly singling out" the company over the past decade and blamed "irresponsible" coverage for the retailer's woes, Reuters reported yesterday. Sears, once the largest U.S. retailer, warned investors in March there was a chance it may not be able to continue as a going concern after years of losses and declining sales. About two dozen mid-size retailers have filed for chapter 11 in the past two years amid fierce online competition and rapidly changing consumer tastes, while large department stores like Macy's Inc. and JC Penney Co. Inc. have announced store closures for this year. Lampert kicked off his appearance at an annual shareholders' meeting at Sears' headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill., with a slideshow of headlines about the company's financial distress, dating back to 2008. The company has not reported a profit for six years, which Lampert compared to Amazon.com Inc.’s early unprofitable growth. He predicted people will look back and wonder how they missed the Sears' turnaround, which he said would be driven by the Shop Your Way rewards program. Lampert said that there were "behind-the-scenes" counterparties trying to take advantage of the company's situation and that he was trying to adapt and preserve as many jobs as possible. Shares in Sears closed 6.8 percent higher on Wednesday at $11.24. The bulk of Lampert's 90-minute appearance focused on news coverage, which he said had been "deliberately unfair."
