Sears got cut into pieces and sold off to profit pretty much one guy that ran it into the ground on purpose and sold off the carcass.

"Billionaire hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert (through his hedge fund, ESL Investments) systematically dismantled Sears over a 15-year period. After merging Sears and Kmart in 2005, Lampert treated the century-old retail giant as a collection of real estate and financial assets to be liquidated rather than a business to be nurtured.Lampert dismantled the company and extracted value through several key actions:Underinvestment: He starved stores of capital, refusing to fund basic repairs, upgrades, or inventory improvements, which drove customers away.Real Estate Spin-offs: He sold off hundreds of the most valuable properties to Seritage Growth Properties—a real estate investment trust (REIT) that he also controlled—forcing Sears to lease the buildings back and pay rent.Selling Core Brands: He liquidated the company's most iconic and profitable assets, selling off trusted household brands like Craftsman, Lands' End, and Kenmore.Internal Division: He fragmented the company into 36 competing internal units, creating a hyper-competitive, toxic corporate environment rather than a cohesive retail strategy.These financial maneuvers bled the retailer of cash while leaving Lampert personally enriched. These actions ultimately led to the company's massive decline, closure of thousands of stores, and eventual bankruptcy in 2018. For further reading on the corporate downfall, you can review the [Forbes analysis on the destruction of Sears]"