Hoffman Estates, IL, Aug 3—The chief of Sears, Roebuck and Co. told employees that headquarters staff may be cut as part of an ongoing review of operations.

The warning about possible job cuts was contained in a memo that Sears chief executive Alan Lacy sent to the company's more than 7,000 headquarters employees on Wednesday.

"Alan Lacy has been talking about reviewing the business since last year," Peggy Palter, a Sears spokeswoman said. "This is a memo that Alan sent to employees stating that we're going to be looking at ways to reduce expenses in each department and it may result in job losses."

The memo did not specify how many jobs may be lost, Palter said.

Lacy and Sears are in the midst of a wide ranging review of of the company's retail operations, which have lagged the profitability of younger, smaller competitors like Kohl's Corp.

Sears has already announced plans to stop selling cosmetics and some sporting goods like bicycles. The full results of the review are expected in October.

The last round of Sears headquarter job cuts came in 1999, when former CEO Arthur Martinez announced plans to trim 10% of the corporate work force, which numbered around 10,000 people at that time.

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