SEARS TO FIRE 200 WORKERS

Bloomberg

February 14, 2008 -- Sears Holdings Corp., the company that started reorganizing last month to stem declining sales, will fire 200 workers at its Hoffman Estates, Ill., headquarters to cut costs.

The jobs are in support services and account for 4 percent of the 5,000 positions at the retailer, spokesman Chris Brathwaite said yesterday.

The largest US department-store company has posted declining sales at older stores in every quarter since Chairman Eddie Lampert combined Sears Roebuck & Co. and Kmart Holdings Corp. in 2005. Last month, Lampert ousted Chief Executive Officer Aylwin Lewis and restructured Sears.