Leadership Shift for Sears

"Alan, Aylwin and I believe these changes will achievegreater clarity in our operating management and alignthis corporate structure with our vision of SearsHoldings," Lampert said in a statement.

Lewis, who joined Kmart last October as the discountretailer's CEO, will take on the new role on Sept.30. Before joining Kmart, he spent 13 years withYum!Brands Inc., most recently as president, chiefmulti-branding and operating officer. In his new role,Lewis will oversee the company's 3,900 stores, as wellas home services, finance, legal, supply chain,information technology and human resources.

Lampert will focus on making the Sears Holdingsorganization "more responsive to its customers." Hesaid in a shareholder letter posted on the company'swebsite: "My decision to become more deeply involvedin certain aspects of Sears Holdings' businessreflects the board's and my desire to make the companymore responsive to our customers and to involve memore directly in the renewal of the company. I intendto serve without compensation, either in cash or stockoptions, consistent with my belief that large ownerswho serve as chairman or CEO are best compensated byincreasing the value of the company over time for allshareholders rather than through large compensationpackages."

During Sears Holdings' second quarter fiscal 2005, thecompany earned $161 million, or 98 cents a share,compared with earnings of $154 million, or $1.54 ashare, for the same period last year. Total sales were$13.2 billion compared with $4.8 billion. For thequarter, Kmart comparable store sales and total salesdecreased 0.3% and 3.2%, respectively, while Searsdomestic sales declined 3% and comp-store salesdecreased 7.4%.