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The final closeout for Wards; In cutting losses, GE exits retail black hole.(Montgomery Ward & Co. to close)(Brief Article)
Crain's Chicago Business, January, 2001 by BAEB, EDDIE
General Electric Co., a powerhouse conglomerate but a reluctant retailer, finally turned out the lights at Montgomery Ward & Co. The 1988 leveraged buyout of the troubled retailer had pulled in GE Capital Services as financier, and Wall Street was surprised the giant stuck by Wards as long as it did.
Perhaps only pride kept it pouring billions into what many experts considered a retail black hole. But the screeching halt to the consumer spending spree this holiday season doomed Wards as fourth-quarter sales slipped not just below projections, but below year-earlier fourth-quarter levels. Wards' once-profitable credit card and direct-marketing businesses, which had long masked the deficiencies of the stores, had been split off as separate GE units, leaving the...
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