Eddie Lampert has a back-up plan for Sears - and it could mean hundreds more store closures

AP

Sears chairman Eddie Lampert has submitted a second bid to save the business.

• Sears chairman Eddie Lampert has made two different proposals to save Sears from imminently liquidating.
• Under the first proposal, Lampert would pay $4.4 billion for many of Sears' assets, including 425 stores.
• Under the second proposal, just 250 stores would remain open, according to a regulatory filing.
• Sears had 687 stores in operation at the time of its bankruptcy filing in mid-October.

Sears chairman Eddie Lampert has made two different proposals to save Sears from imminently liquidating and closing all its stores.

Under the first proposal, Lampert would pay $4.4 billion for many of Sears' assets, including 425 stores. This plan, which Lampert's hedge fund shared on Friday, would keep those stores in operation and retain about 50,000 of the company's 68,000 employees.

The second proposal, which was revealed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday, is designed to be a fall-back plan if the first proposal is rejected.

Read more: Sears chairman Eddie Lampert submits $4.4 billion bid in hopes of rescuing the company from imminent death

The alternative plan is much smaller and contingent upon just 250 Sears stores remaining open.

Sears had 687 stores in operation at the time of its bankruptcy filing in mid-October. If the second proposal is accepted, two-thirds of Sears stores would shut down.

Both proposals were submitted by Transform Holdco LLC, a subsidiary of Lampert's hedge fund, ESL Investments.

If both proposals are rejected, the company could be sold off in pieces to liquidators or other investors, CNBC reports.