Life With Eddie Will Be … Different

By Brent Felgner -- Home Textiles Today, 3/14/2005 12:00:00 AM

New York — —

New York — In his campaign for ratification of the Sears-Kmart merger which comes up for a vote on March 24, Sears Chairman and CEO Alan Lacy sees a completely different kind of company emerging, in no small part because of investor Eddie Lampert's involvement. He'll hold 40 percent of the stock in SHLD, the symbol that will be traded on the Nasdaq.

Lacy offered what might be considered close-up — in some respects intimate — views of the thinking that will drive the new Sears Holdings.

“The subjectivity of what creates shareholder value won't be very subjective because Eddie is a brilliant investor,” Lacy told employees in a town hall meeting and videotape.

“His track record is better than (Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren) Buffett's ... what he thinks needs to be done to create shareholder value is very clear — and how capital gets invested, how we think about inventory investments, etc. (These) are things that he has a definitive point of view on and a well established track record in making good decisions along these lines. I think we'll have more clarity in terms of what shareholder value is all about, because it's really shareholder value in one person's determination, primarily.”