Mobil to Sell Montgomery Ward

CHICAGO — Mobil Corp. said today that it plans to shed its Montgomery Ward & Co. unit and has brought back Bernard Brennan, a former executive of the nation’s sixth-largest retailer, to restructure it into a smaller, independent company.

Mobil said it will write off $500 million after taxes in 1985 to recover the cost of the restructuring. Mobil, the nation’s second-largest oil company, acquired Montgomery Ward for $1.7 billion in 1976. The retailer posted a profit of $40 million in 1983 and $53 million in 1984.