Sunday, November 13, 2005

Roebuck sells his half of Sears, Roebuck, and Co. to Richard Sears for $25,000

Not recently. This happened in 1894. I wonder why he wanted out so early. The company went on to do rather well, as you can see if you've ever been to 233 South Wacker Drive.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Alvah C. Roebuck was simply a watchmaker. The original Sears Roebuck company was founded in Minneapolis in 1891 under the name A C Roebuck & Company. This company was started at the request of Mr. Sears to get around a noncompete clause that prevented Sears from selling watches in the Chicago area after his sale of R W Sears Watch Company. The company was moved to Chicago after Sears purchased it and renamed Sears Roebuck & co. I believe the $25,000 was most likely a fee paid to Roebuck for this service as appossed to a normal sale of equity. Further support for this theory would be the fact that in 1893 revenues for the company were $450,000 and increased to $700,000 by 1895. No partner of a firm with these revenue numbers or growth rate would sell there stake in the company for $25,000.

Pat

8:01 AM  

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