bild
Carts sit empty in front of a Kmart in Hyattsville, MD, 14 January,2002. Bankrupt retail discounter Kmart Corp. is to announce 25,000 layoffs and 330 more store closings 14 January, according to the Detroit Free Press. The daily said the struggling Troy, Michigan-based retailer was expected to make the announcement later 14 January, according to people familiar with the discounter's bankruptcy. Kmart became the largest retailer to declare bankruptcy last January, when it ran out of money to pay its suppliers. Its demise is now the subject of three federal investigations and an internal review of former managers who pocketed millions in loans in the days and weeks before Kmart filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. Since declaring bankruptcy, Kmart has closed 283 stores, fired more than 22,000 workers without severance pay, sold off some of its corporate jets and cut executive perks such as luxury lease cars. (KEYSTONE/EPA PHOTO AFP/TIM SLOAN)