Sears its naming rights to the building expired in 2003 it remained the Sears Tower until early 2009. In March 2009 London-based insurer Willis Group Holdings, Ltd., was given the building's naming rights to encourage them to occupy the building. The official renaming as the "Willis Tower" took place on Thursday, July 16, 2009, during a public ceremony hosted by Willis Group Holdings. In the 1990s, the company began divesting itself of many non-retail entities, which were detrimental to the company's bottom line. Sears spun off its financial services arm which included brokerage business Dean Witter Reynolds and Discover Card. It
Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building (Los Angeles, California) Deco tower and "Sears" sign became a "beacon for Eastsiders returning home on area freeways," and has been described by the Los Angeles Conservancy as "one of the dominant visual icons of the Eastside" of Los Angeles. The distribution center was closed in January 1992, eliminating jobs for 585 full-time workers and 775 part-timers. The facility's general manager said at the time that the Boyle Heights center was the most expensive that Sears operated, partly because the facilities were "outdated." In 2004, developer MJW Investments announced it had acquired the building and would make it the centerpiece of a proposed