The Eddie Lampert Narrative: When We Last Saw Our Hero...

Today's freshly posted Rescue Memo addresses the recent harsh turn in the long-term narrative governing the once-gilded reputation of Eddie Lampert.

For years, the common soundbite that took root among the business press was that Lampert was the "next Warren Buffett," a tag that seemed to come with wax wings and a map of the shortest route to the sun.

But as Deal Journal's Evan Newmark pointed out last week, that early legacy translated into frighteningly sweet treatment from analysts (and, consequently, journalists) when Lampert stepped into the big-box retail game, particularly given the actual business realities of K-Mart and Sears.

But as the numbers continued to sour, and management continued to churn, cautious skeptics began to surface. The grumblings erupted into full-throat hollering over this past winter when Jesse Eisinger's "Marriage From Hell" piece undressed the situation for what it had become, with a particular emphasis on Lampert's strategy and management style. If those 4,100-plus words weren't enough, Eisinger quickly punctuated the story with a complementary post that marked an important shift in the coverage. Before, the question had been "Can Sears be turned around?" Eisinger's post instead asked, "Can Sears be saved?"

Then, last Friday, the Chicago Tribune's Sandra Jones said the said answer to that new question was "no," leding with the observation that "most investors have given up on the prospect of a retail turnaround and are counting on Chairman Edward Lampert to begin raising cash through asset sales."

The first quote cited by Jones seemed to be pointed directly at those who still clung to the notion that Lampert magic could do the trick.

"There is no one in the world who can fix Sears or Kmart," said Love Goel, chairman and CEO of Growth Ventures Group, a private-equity firm that buys retail companies. "So let's get real. The best option is to look at the assets they've got and how to maximize the value of those assets."

How will the next chapter or two play out? That is largely up to Lampert. As the Rescue Memo points out, Lambert's can actually strengthen his reputation as a remarkable investor if he manages the dismantling of SHLD with the same clinical objectivity that made him a multi-billionaire in the first place.

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