I a nutshell, his playbook was: 1/ buy tonnes of stock at a discount via his "arms length" hedge fund 2/ as CEO take the billions of cash that Sears was flush

I a nutshell, his playbook was: 1/ buy tonnes of stock at a discount via his "arms length" hedge fund 2/ as CEO take the billions of cash that Sears was flush with at the time and authorize share repurchases (almost 6 billion over 5 years, at premiums up to $170/share) 3/ defer any reinvestment in existing assets (stores, people, innovation) 4/ liquidate assets of value (i.e. brands) 5/ blame outside forces like markets, competition and (hilarious if it wasn't so sad) the media here's a quote from 2007: "we will not spend money on capital expenditures to build new stores or upgrade our existing base simply because our competitors do. If share repurchases or acquisitions appear to be more productive, then we will allocate capital to those options appropriately." He put his own unsecured financing (equity) at the front of the line ahead of traditional obligations (i.e. running the business) and liabilities (like say, pension obligations) by making share purchases a priority. At the time & market conditions this was an obvious self-serving move. His performance has been described as "the most protracted liquidation in history" - we're just now observing the conclusion.