The biggest US mall owner Simon says still looking to salvage other distressed retailers
Simon Property Group Chief Executive David Simon said Monday that the company is still looking to salvage additional distressed retailers, having already made bids for bankrupted Lucky Brand, Brooks Brothers and J.C. Penney.

"We're acquiring inventory at or below cost," Simon said, explaining the company's acquisition strategy during a conference call with analysts. "There's profit in there."

"We continue to look for other opportunities," he said. "We are doing our fair share for trying to keep this world as normal as we can."

As an example, the CEO noted that saving Brooks Brothers from a total liquidation would save around 4,000 jobs alone.

"I don't buy into this analysis you guys have gotten that we're buying into these retailers to pay us rent," he said.

Simon Property shares were falling around 1% in after-hours trading, having closed the day up more than 5%. A report late Sunday said Simon has been in talks with Amazon to open warehouses at some shuttered Sears and J.C. Penney department stores had boosted the company's stock price Monday.

So far this year, more than 40 retailers have filed for bankruptcy. CEO Simon likened the trend rippling through the retail industry to the early '90s, when there were more lasting impacts after a wave of bankruptcies including the rise of e-commerce, more than the period after the Great Recession, where trends bounced back to normal relatively sooner.

"We're anticipating more of a durational impact here," he said. "This is not your grandmother's recession ... we're dealing with a lot more bankruptcies."