AP

• Sears shares plunged 29% early Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported the retailer could file for bankruptcy protection as soon as this week.

• The cash-strapped retailer has $134 million in debt due Monday, according to The Journal.

• Sears appointed a restructuring expert, Alan Carr, to its board on Tuesday.

• Watch Sears trade in real time here.

Sears crashed to a record low Wednesday morning, down more than 29% at $0.42 a share, after a report said the company could file for bankruptcy protection as soon as this week.

The cash-strapped retailer has hired M-III Partners to prepare a bankruptcy filing ahead of a debt-payment deadline, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. M-III Partners is said to have been working on such a filing for a few weeks, but the company is considering other options as well.

The court filing could come as soon as this week, as the company has $134 million in debt due Monday, The Journal said.

Sears appointed a restructuring expert, Alan Carr, to its board on Tuesday, expanding the six-person committee to seven. Carr has "significant experience as a principal, investor, and adviser leading complex financial restructurings, as well as serving as a director of reorganized businesses in the US and Europe," the company said.

Sears, whose stock price topped out at more than $120 a share in 2007, has struggled under the leadership of Eddie Lampert, a Wall Street prodigy who took control of Sears more than a decade ago and became its CEO in 2013.

The retailer has been losing money and closing stores for years, in part because of an e-commerce boom dominated by companies such as Amazon. In May, shares got a short-lived boost following news that Sears was partnering with Amazon to provide automotive services to Amazon customers at Sears locations, as Business Insider reported.

Sears has tanked 85% this year through Tuesday.

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