Liquidation appears to be the fate of Sears and its chairman, Eddie Lampert.

The Sears board rejected Lampert’s $4.4 billion bid Friday to acquire 425 Sears stores along with other assets of the bankrupt retailer — and a last-minute scramble to improve the offer has not moved the needle, sources tell The Post.

Sears is likely to announce its plans to liquidate on Tuesday — unless Lampert’s ESL Investments fund, which is the company’s largest creditor and shareholder, puts more cash on the table.

“Everything is now subject to whether ESL decides to submit something that will be satisfactory to the debtors,” said a source with knowledge of the negotiations.

One of the biggest sticking points is ESL’s plan to pay for part of the deal by forgiving $1.3 billion in debt that Sears owes the hedge fund, which includes fees owed on stores sold to Seritage Growth Properties. Lampert is the largest shareholder in Seritage.

The Seritage deal as well as the sale of Lands’ End are being investigated by the creditors’ committee and are the subject of potential litigation against ESL and Lampert, who offered to pay $35 million to be absolved of allegations that ESL paid favorable prices to obtain the assets.

There is a court hearing Tuesday morning in White Plains federal bankruptcy court, after which Sears is expected to announce whether it will liquidate, according to sources.

Many of Sears’ major creditors have said they want the company to liquidate.

“The bankruptcy process is burning through a lot of money and these assets are more valuable today rather than tomorrow,” said a source close to the creditors.

“If Lampert’s deal doesn’t pay enough cash to pay their fees, they would have concerns,” said bankruptcy attorney Kenneth Rosen of Lowenstein Sandler, who represents smaller creditors.

Sears did not return calls for comment, and ESL declined to comment.