Sears Holdings is attempting to take Sears Canada private at $18/share but some minority shareholders (Hawkeye Capital Management LLC, Knott Partners Management LLC and Pershing Square Capital Management LP, among others) are dissenting. (Pershing thinks it's worth $41.21- $46.67.) But most vocal is the company's ex-chairman and CEO, Richard Sharpe, who takes particular aim at Sears Holdings' chairman, who happens to be...
"None of them really know anything about retailing ... Eddie Lampert of ESL (Investments) doesn't know anything about retailing and couldn't care less about it."**Apparently, Eddie Lampert-bashing has become a cultural export. Next thing you know, the French will be doing it. (And in the interim, the French-Canadians.)
** Lest this be mistakenly perceived as an endorsement of Sharpe's views: we're fairly certain Lampert knows "a thing or two" about retailing.
Sears Canada Set to Go Private, ex-CEO Calls Deal "Corporate Cannibalism" [CBC News]
Posted by Bulging Bracket, May 10, 2006 4:22PM
While true, the fact that Sharpe said it takes away greatly from the credibility of the statement. Being stuck as the president of a backwater division of a crappy retailer who barely managed to suck less than the wretched competition isn't what I'd call retail genius. If the guy had been the former CEO of Wal-Mart Canada or something, well then I'd listen. Hell, even the guys at The Gap have shown that they occasionally know what they were doing. No general retailer in Canada has been successful in 20 years. Retailing success comes from grocers (Loblaws), red-neck discounters (Wal-Mart), and hardware stores (Canadian Tire). General retailers have been involved in value destruction to put the US operations of K-Mart and Sears to shame. These guys know how to suck and blow at the same time.