An analysis by tax expert Bob Willens of Robert Willens LLC found that Sears' bankruptcy reorganization is set up in a way that will allow Lampert, a hedge-fund operator who is Sears' principal creditor and its former controlling shareholder, to save about $2 billion of income taxes, according to a Washington Post reported. What's more, because of an odd intersection of tax law and bankruptcy law that we'll get to in a bit, those prospective tax savings are far more valuable to Lampert than they would be to any other would-be buyer or liquidator. That would have been one powerful motivation for Lampert to outbid competitors to become New Sears' controlling holder, according to the commentary. Over the years, Sears has run up about $5 billion of "net operating losses," according to Willens's report, and has also been unable to use about $1 billion of tax credits that it has earned. At current tax rates, the operating losses are worth about $1 billion. Add the unused tax credits, and you get about $2 billion of prospective tax savings.
