Early Life and Education
Edward Scott Lampert was born on July 19, 1962, in Roslyn, New York. His father was a senior partner in a law firm, and his mother was a homemaker. Lampert's interest in investing was sparked early by his grandmother. He attended Yale University, graduating summa cum laude in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in economics. While at Yale, he was a member of the Skull and Bones society and Phi Beta Kappa.
Rise to Success
Lampert's career began with an internship at Goldman Sachs in 1984. He then worked in the risk arbitrage department from 1985 to 1988, where he worked directly with Robert Rubin. In 1988, he founded ESL Investments with seed money from Richard Rainwater and has since been compared to Warren Buffett for his value-investing approach.
Key Business Strategies
Lampert is known for his "concentrated value" investment style, focusing on a few undervalued stocks and holding them for several years. A pivotal moment was his acquisition of Kmart out of bankruptcy in 2002, followed by the merger with Sears in 2005 to form Sears Holdings Corporation, where he served as CEO and chairman. During his tenure at Sears, he pursued asset monetization. However, Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy in October 2018. Following the bankruptcy, Lampert's Transformco acquired substantially all of the assets from the estate of Sears Holdings.
Philanthropy
There is no readily available information on Edward Lampert's specific philanthropy amounts.
