What really happened is that Eddie Lampert engineered a financial bust out of both Sears and Kmart. Extracted billions and left the carcass of formerly great companies.
It's accurate that Lampert did engineer a bust, but it happened after Sears had missed the ecommerce boat. I don't think Lampert could have done the deal if Sears hand adopted the internet. The Lampert purchase happened in 2005. Sears shuttered the catalog business in 1993, and Amazon launched in 1994. Amazon started expanding into non-book product in 1998, and it was clear to the Sears universe that they had completely and utterly messed up.
> Lampert is a self-proclaimed supporter of free market economics and is a fan of libertarian writer Ayn Rand.
Big surprise there.
From another article:
> As Sears blew through its dwindling cash reserves, Lampert’s hedge fund made loans to the company money that were backed by the company’s assets, including real estate balances on Sears credit cards. That made him Sears’ largest creditor: Sears owes him at least $1.3 billion.