Sears to Close 80 Stores as Troubles Mount

Sears posted a bigger loss for the first quarter as the struggling retailer failed to arrest a fall in sales despite offering heavy discounts to woo shoppers. Shares of the company, which operates Sears department stores and the Kmart discount chain, fell 7 percent in premarket trading. Sears, controlled by hedge fund billionaire Eddie Lampert, has been shedding assets and closing stores as it battles the operating losses and weak sales that have plagued the company since 2005, when the two chains were merged.