Eddie Lampert打破了西尔斯，欺骗了他的声誉，并失去了数十亿美元。还是他呢？

他们叫做eddie lampert很多东西。“下一个沃伦巴菲特，”Business Week在2004年涌出。“天才”写道Fortune2006年。“名人股东”，亚博赞助欧冠在2013年标记了他。

But in mid-October of this year, they were calling him something entirely different. Privately, hedge fund managers distanced themselves, with one calling Lampert a practitioner of “predatory capitalism.” But perhaps the worst assaults came from those claiming to be employees of Sears Holdings — the company that Lampert had famously spent $1.5 billion to acquire, manage, and, as of that month, drive into bankruptcy. They took to employment review website Glassdoor in droves.

他们写道的一些被称为“快速eddie”的“首席执行官象征”是“毁了公司”。“Eddie Lampert不知道零售的第一件事，”另一个抱怨道。“他只是一个正在寻找退出战略的对冲基金经理。”

One person put it more bluntly: “Eddie Lampert sucks.”

10月16日，兰伯特在西尔斯掌舵十多年后，尽其所能主持了公司的破产，当时，一些匿名雇员很可能就在公司总部伊利诺伊州霍夫曼庄园的房间里。

“我尽我所能考虑的一切，试图再次让这家公司变得非常重要，因为我非常关心它，”他坚持，根据市政厅演讲的音频录音亚博赞助欧冠received. “There were mistakes along the way, for which I take responsibility. Those failures have affected me in many ways far greater than any successes I have had. They have forced me to dig deep, to discover who I am and what I value.”

Those assembled for the speech, made the day after Sears filed for bankruptcy, were likely not mollified, or impressed, by this self-discovery — which had come at the expense of their employment. And they might have noticed that one thing the hedge fund mogul did not say is whether he actually迷路的凭借他对西尔斯，罗巴克＆Co.和Kmart的投资，这些投资与2005年合并成为SEARS HOLDINGS。

事实上，在一次采访中The New York Times10月15日后的天破产归档 - 他唯一一个从那时起 - Lampert仔细选择了他的话。“我拍了一个巨大的个人打击，”他告诉了Times.“Not just in money, but time. There’s been an enormous opportunity cost.”

真实的是，Lampert并不像他的股票乘坐高女优惠工一样丰富。根据二年度25个对冲基金收入者的年度丰富名单 - 他降落9次 - 多年来的对冲基金泰坦赢得了超过70亿美元。这是在SEARS股票亏损之前，从他的对冲基金的大规模赎回减少了他的个人财富Forbesestimates is now just $1 billion.

如今，兰伯特作为对冲基金界金童的声誉已经失去了光彩。根据向美国证券交易委员会（SEC）提交的一份文件，ESL Investments是一家对冲基金，目前主要是兰伯特的自有资金，主要投资于西尔斯（Sears）的股票和债券及其分拆公司。截至去年底，该基金管理的监管资产为13亿美元，低于最高时的160多亿美元。

诚然，谈论“机会成本”听起来可能有些耳聋。但可以肯定的是，几乎任何其他投资——即使是标准普尔500指数（S&P500）的交易所交易基金——表面上看来都能更有效地利用兰伯特的时间。

然而，这些令人沮丧的数字是令人震惊的真理。

Although current Sears shareholders have lost almost their entire investment, tens of thousands of employees have lost their jobs, and creditors — including the U.S. government — and others are owed $11 billion, Lampert has still made nearly $1.4 billion to date from his Sears investment, a number that has never been calculated before. It’s also a sum that could change radically — up or down — depending on the outcome of what is likely to be a contentious bankruptcy process, which is now unfolding.

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At its peak in early 2007,Sears had a market capitalization of nearly $30 billion — almost twice that of Amazon at the time. The stock now trades at 33 cents per share, but financial engineering — dividends, interest payments, and asset spin-offs deployed to keep the company out of bankruptcy — looks to have narrowed Lampert’s losses on an approximate $1.5 billion equity investment to close to $624 million.

然而，由于他的对冲基金的补偿结构，他于1988年在25岁开始的赔偿结构，那些损失与Lampert的损失相比苍白。在西尔斯的峰值，基金拥有大约一半的零售商。ESL投资者在他的西尔斯和KMART投资中支付LAMPER的绩效费用，因为这些股份起飞，截至2006年底达110亿美元，达到了20亿美元。该数字不包括基金的管理费，估计在1至2％的资产之间，或专业服务的投资者支付 - 包括法律，会计，审计和经纪委员会和费用。

它没有结束。估值Lampert的西尔斯财富的野货卡是零售商债务的26亿美元，包括由ESL和其他LAMPERT实体所拥有的西尔斯的房地产和其他资产担保的约15亿美元。在任何典型的破产中，担保债务将被视为安全。增加到14亿美元，Lampert的Sears投资可能近30亿美元。如果Lampert成功地成功了他最新的Gambit - 这是换债务数百个有利可图的西尔斯店 - 他可以在遍布西尔斯之前造成更多的钱。

但Lampert作为Sears主席和首席执行官的地位，最重要的是对冲基金经理对债务和公平的所有权，很可能会使诉讼中的诉讼中的诉讼，这可能会改变该计算。无担保的债权人已经在Lampert和ESL之后，在11月6日的第6名破产法院争论，内部人士在2005年与kmart的合并以来的其他债权人以前的其他债权人牺牲了“可能与公司的有利价值”。在提交债权人提到了一连串的潜在费用：欺诈性转移，违反信托税，公平的义务和债务重新分配。

Lampert否认任何偏袒。“ESL的行动一直以诚信为本，公平的条件，以及第三方，通过独立和经验丰富的顾问经常审查，并对所有西尔斯利益攸关方进行有益，”对冲基金在法院提交中表示回应。对冲基金声称，这些投资也没有导致ESL的任何“意外收获”，并指出其西尔斯股价仅价值2000万美元。

西尔斯董事长（当西尔斯申请破产保护时，兰伯特放弃了首席执行官的职位）拒绝接受本文的采访。但他有他的辩护人。

那些接近男人的人坚持认为他正在赚钱的争论惨败是一个错误的叙述。“The whole thesis that Eddie is making out somehow like a bandit here — a lot of that is just because you’ve got a very sophisticated guy who made a ton of money, so ipso facto, there must be something going on,” says one such person. But even when detailing the stock losses and the debt at risk in the bankruptcy, this person neglected to mention the beauty of the hedge fund business: Fees made on the way up rarely have to be returned.

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啊，和它是多么骑。

Edward Scott Lampert’s Icarus-like rise began on the famed risk arbitrage desk at Goldman Sachs, where Lampert landed straight out of Yale after graduating summa cum laude and rooming with now–Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the son of then–Goldman partner Robert Mnuchin. (Steve Mnuchin would later invest in ESL and serve on the board of Sears; he left upon joining the Trump administration.)

然而，Lampert的时间在高盛没有持续很长时间。只有三年时间，这位年轻人从理查德雨水的1800万美元的种子投资推出了ESL，其工作正在投资德克萨斯州低音家族的石油财富。很快，Wunderkind已经获得了一些闪闪发光的粗体名称作为投资者，包括Computer Pioneer Michael Dell，纽约的TISCH房地产家庭，以及娱乐Mogul David Geffenen。

2006年，林根吹嘘Fortune杂志称，作为一名ESL投资者，格芬赚的钱比“我创建和出售的所有业务”都要多。当年，格芬赎回了他的全部投资——几乎达到了西尔斯股价的顶峰。其他大牌们很快就会效仿。

甚至早期，其他人看到了Lampert的不同一面。

“Eddie是一个非常艰难的接受者，”一位在20世纪80年代在高盛在高盛工作时遇到了Lampert的一家公司高管。“他是一个海绵。他是那些与谁谈论的人之一，谁想遇见人物并希望采取信息，而不是在另一边即将到来。“

Lampert并不孤单在他的野心中。在高盛的风险ARB桌上工作的七名男子开始启动对冲基金，最成功的是Farallon Capital Management，在ESL前两年推出。Farallon现在退休的创始人汤姆Steyer与Goldman的Lampert合作 - 当近年来法拉隆短缺的西尔斯时，他的同事们回忆说，Steyer对观看Lampert被带来的Lamperful。“汤姆从未有过一个坏的话语对任何人说 - 除了Eddie Lampert。我从来没有搞清楚，“一个在法拉隆与Steyer合作的人说。

斯特耶现在是一位自由派政治活动家，他没有回应记者的置评请求。但在西尔斯申请破产当天发布的一条推特上，他摆出了摇摆不定的姿态：“所以西尔斯的所有者一直在抢在养老金领取者和纳税人之前剥离资产，而纳税人最终将支付养老金。这不对，这是偷窃！”

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In late 2004 a flattering封面故事Business Week黑人拉姆特作为下一个沃伦巴菲特。一年同期，对冲基金经理对破产扳手的债务投资达到了8亿美元，这让他控制了折扣零售商，债务无债务。Lampert已经在Sears Roebuck举行了巨大的股份，他似乎已经支付了约7亿美元。第二年作为kmart的新董事长，他利用其股价在价值110亿美元的交易中接管西尔斯。在2004年底，Business Week据报道，ESL过去16年的年化回报率为29%。

但ESL的故事不会是辉煌的投资者。相反，它是如何全面跨越企业化的金融工程如何完全失败 - 对冲基金管理人员沿途收获奖励。

During 2004, Kmart stock soared and ESL’s stake in that company and in Sears grew to $5.7 billion from an initial investment of $1.5 billion, according to filings with the SEC. In 2005 and 2006 the newly merged Sears stock continued its ascent. At the end of 2005 — the year of the merger — ESL closed the year with $7.5 billion in Sears stock, according to its filings. In 2006 its Sears stake grew to a peak of $10.9 billion. Lampert is believed to have charged the average 20 percent hedge fund performance fee, so he would have made an estimated $1.9 billion during the stock’s ascent — money that could never be clawed back. (He earned an additional $135 million in such fees in 2013.)

哥伦比亚商学院教授和前任Sears Canada的前任首席执行官Mark Cohen表示，股票的潮流没有魔力，他是Lampert在Sears统治中最悲伤的批评者之一。科恩追溯了公司的垮台，将罗巴克首席执行官Alan Lacey指责“灾难性决策” - 包括与kmart进行协议。

“他的人从兰伯特fo买了51凯马特r $605 million in cash, and that caused the Kmart stock price to go right through the ceiling because the Street said, ‘Wow, Kmart’s worth an enormous amount more than the stock price.’ What did Lampert do? He turned around and used the inflated value of Kmart stock, and the cash, and bought Sears Roebuck.”

Soon, Cohen goes on, Lampert “takes an ax to the company’s operating expense and capital expense, and for the first year and a half he looks like a genius because free cash flow explodes, and the Street is calling him the next Warren Buffett.” But, Cohen cautions, “any enterprise that suddenly stops investing in itself for some short period of time is likely to look geniuslike.”

为了他的一部分，Lampert从一开始就不受欢迎：“在业务上花钱的概念 - 我并不反对它。我只是想要回归它，“他告诉Fortunein 2006.

SEARS开始购买股票而不是投资已经运行的商店。在2005年至2008年期间，它购买了50亿美元的股票 - 在同一时间框架期间在资本支出上花费的两倍。

“已经保存了现金，西尔斯将被拯救，”一位对冲基金经理说，一直是矮秆股的套路。

By 2007, as the economy started to wobble, earnings began drifting down. “I would attribute that to starving the business,” says former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, who now runs seminars on the business of hedge funds and teaches Sears as a lesson in what he calls “value traps” — companies that investors think look inexpensive but are actually duds.

西尔斯的命运从未恢复。”蒂尔森说：“在过去的五年里，每年都要烧掉15亿美元。”你不必是个天才就能预测到这家公司会被摧毁和破产。五年前就很清楚了。”

To stave off the day of reckoning, Sears began selling assets. In 2012 it sold off Sears Canada, giving ESL a 28 percent stake, and Lampert later paid $212 million in a rights offering for more shares. Sears Canada ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2017, but Lampert was able to cut his losses to about $44 million, as he received a pro rata share of some $600 million in dividends Sears Canada had given to its shareholders in 2012 and 2013. The status of those dividends is now being disputed in a Canadian court.

2013年，兰伯特接任西尔斯首席执行官。据英国《每日邮报》报道，当时形势看起来非常严峻，一批高盛（goldmansachs）客户在ESL投资了35亿美元，当他们的5年禁闭期到期时，他们撤走了资金华尔街日报.Lampert was forced to shed some Sears shares to cover the redemptions. (ESL’s annualized return since inception is still 12 percent, according to Bloomberg — which means the fund has lost almost 6 percent annually starting in 2005, given the 29 percent annualized gain until that time, according to亚博赞助欧冠计算。）

随着ESL的回报开始下降，Lampert搬到了佛罗里达州，他将不再需要支付州所得税。他从阳光州逃跑了总部位于阳光状态的西尔斯，并将大多数对冲基金的职能外包给康涅狄格州格林威治留在康涅狄格州的康涅狄格州的一支队伍。

然后，在2014年，西尔斯旋转脱掉服装和装饰品牌土地的结束 - 这项交易从可用于支付不安全的债权人，包括其养老基金。（今天，养老金处于养老金福利担保公司之一，据法院申请称，欠股份有限公司最大的无抵押债权人，欠债务人数超过15亿美元。）

在分拆给西尔斯股东的过程中，ESL和Lampert无偿获得了新公司近一半的股份，略多于1500万股，这使得他的原始股份今天的价值约为2.81亿美元。兰伯特多年来一直在增持自己的股份，截至美国证券交易委员会（SEC）最近提交的文件，他持有21526634股，占Lands'End 67%的股份。根据13Da文件计算，增发股份的收益超过1900万美元，截至目前，Lands的总收益为3亿美元。

Like many hedge funds据信ESL被烧毁投资褪色的零售商，据信已经为零售商拥有的房地产价值提出了原来的西尔斯论文。问题是Lampert如何将其货币化。

他回答说，在2015年创建的房地产投资信托，购买了200多个西尔斯地区，然后租给他们恢复西尔斯。Lampert，现在称为Serity的董事长，为他的股份支付了7.45亿美元，这从他支付的价格上升了近30％，让他获得了约2亿美元的收益。

这笔交易是一个主要的一个主要债权人呼吸望向其一些价值。他们在法庭上辩称，所以安详交易在“基本上不足的公允价值”的同时删除了西尔斯的性质，同时以不合适的租约在相同的属性的不利租赁，“数亿美元”的评估超过了习惯了价格股票。

在Seritage之上，Lampert和ESL还从贷款中获得4亿美元的利息收入。

由于这类交易，包括5宗主要资产出售和15宗融资，ESL没有损失其在Sears和Kmart股票上投资的15亿美元。包括主要分拆、股息和利息收入的损益，损失似乎缩小到约6.24亿美元。再加上对冲基金费用带来的20亿美元收益，兰伯特将获得约13.8亿美元的净利润。而这甚至还不包括他26亿美元的西尔斯债务的不确定价值，以及对西尔斯房地产的留置权等项目。

“He has every incentive to say ‘Woe is me,’” says a hedge fund manager familiar with ESL. “But I think he’s crushed it.”

To some observers, Lampert was simply doing his best to save the iconic retailer from the dustbin. “Maybe he’s enriched himself during the process, but at the same time, you’re got to give him props,” says David Tawil, president of hedge fund Maglan Capital. “Landlords have been able to collect rent, and employees have been able to collect paychecks.”

其他人则看到了一些更险恶的东西在起作用。”这对他来说就像一场国际象棋，”这位匿名的对冲基金经理说，他认为兰伯特比其他人领先一步，而且可能有一个电子表格来统计所有这些。

前西尔斯加拿大首席执行官科恩说，这可能会给他提供太多的信用。“他不是天才。如果他是天才，他就不会在假期前提起破产。这是他的一部分错误。“科恩说，当西尔斯耗尽现金但不得不在10月份偿还债务时，这种情况被迫被迫。现在，他假装，“始终完全负责”的人是“被困”。其他债权人“将撕裂他，他已经分开了什么。他们削尖了刀子。“

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决定是否是或者不是他们可以使用那些刀具现在在纽约郊区平原的联邦法院的法官手中。

在那里，美国破产法官罗伯特排水管正在监督公司历史上最复杂的案例之一。在服装公司和照明厂商等供应商上提交了超过4,000名索赔，以防止债权人视为美国政府和主要商城物业所有者。

法院已经批准了紧急贷款，以帮助西尔斯在破产程序中继续生存，并同意允许该公司出售数百家门店，以增强其前景。兰伯特正计划以所谓的“收购”方式竞购这些门店，但由于这位对冲基金首席执行官在西尔斯的巨大作用，这些努力变得更加复杂。

为了避免破产，兰伯特最初试图以4亿美元收购肯莫尔电器品牌，并接管更多西尔斯房地产。但董事会对内幕交易犹豫不决，随后成立了一个专门的重组小组委员会，调查兰伯特对西尔斯的债务和股权投资引发的内幕交易，以及导致其耗尽资产以偿付债权人的各种分拆行为。

要了解可能意味着什么，看起来不比加拿大。In November the court-appointed monitor for Sears Canada’s 2017 insolvency, FTI Consulting Canada, told an Ontario court it wants to start proceedings against Lampert and ESL in connection with the $509 million paid by Sears Canada to its shareholders in 2013. FTI argues the dividend was made with “limited analysis” as Sears faced “worsening financial results,” and ESL appears “to have had an urgent liquidity need” based on redemption requests the hedge fund received that year. ESL has said the claims are without merit. In addition, at least five planned or proposed lawsuits against Lampert and his related firms and former board members are underway, according to a report in Toronto’s地球和邮件.

加拿大诉讼比美国破产更远，但在后一天的第一日听证会上，10月15日，甚至以前的盟友转向了LAMPERT，争论他一直在举行受控清算。在Afferherme Capital Management's Bruce Berkowitz的律师律师，一个长期的Sears投资者和oneTime董事会成员，送了观察员被视为警告的观察员。

“These cases are the last mile in a multiyear liquidation, one that happened without court supervision,” Fairholme attorney Andrew Dietderich, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, told Judge Drain. Fairholme is also an unsecured creditor, with some $330 million in Sears debt.

不仅是销售资产的西尔斯，而且ESL的后续贷款被许多剩余的贷款担保。“所有或大量所有这些交易都是在主题实体未经溶解的或造成破产的时候进行的，”Ira Dizengoff是无担保债权人的伊拉迪·彭·律师，在他们的初步申请中撰写了快速发现ESL’s actions.

If the company was already insolvent when these deals were done, as is being charged, Lampert could face a rare claim of what’s called equitable subordination, according to bankruptcy lawyers. If successful, that would reclassify his debt as equity, making it virtually worthless. Furthermore, it would disrupt his plans to use the assets securing his debt — instead of cash — to buy Sears stores in what’s known as a credit bid. Such bids also typically require a release of all claims against the buyers — which unsecured creditors are expected to protest.

The alternative is for Sears to go into liquidation — which could pummel the value of Lampert’s real estate holdings, including those Sears stores now owned by Seritage. Liquidation firms that would shut down Sears’ stores and sell off the company’s merchandise have already been preparing their own bids, according to a report in华尔街日报.

对于债权人清算可能是他们回来的最佳机会。在最近的申请中，他们将冷水扔到西尔斯的计划中幸存下来，称为“只不过是一厢情愿的思考”，“与其他人的钱不合理和愚蠢的赌博”。

“我们认识到，我们面前有一项艰巨的任务来拯救公司，”威尔，戈沙尔和马格斯的雷施洛克承认，西尔斯首席律师在最近的听证会上我们并没有忽视这个事实。我们可能不会成功。”

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Many on Wall Street相信Lampert的行为刚刚延长了不可避免的行为。但其他人 - 包括内部人士 - 不同意。

2000年，西尔斯在自由现金流中产生了10亿美元。“它可以保存，”笔记标志COHEN。但在Lampert下，他说，“西尔斯是一个缓慢行动的火车残骸。”

这似乎怀疑，这是LAMPERT在2006年的时候Fortune采访，他是关于他的西尔斯计划的一位科伊。“关于商业领袖的秘密之一是他们往往不知道他们将在哪里结束，”他说。“我知道正确的方向。我们是否最终在目的地 - 在许多维度上重建西尔斯持有伟大的公司 - 我不知道。但我们朝着那个方向走了。“

科恩在这样的评论中摇头。“小埃迪，我不知道真的让他打勾，”他说。“他要么妄想，孤心或不诚实 - 或者三个组合。”

无论哪个，他都乘船。

Lampert’s personal assets still include a $40 million Florida estate on exclusive Indian Creek Island, a $26 million waterfront home in Greenwich, and a third home in the pricey ski resort of Aspen, Colorado.

然后是全令人印象深刻的 - 13亿美元，288英尺游艇Lampert christened源泉.

当然，游艇的名字是新的小说家Ayn Rand的着名工作 - 俄罗斯移民将自私变为经济哲学。