Billionaire businessman and investor Eddie Lampert founded ESL Investments in Connecticut in 1988. By 2006, Time magazine had labeled him one of the “brightest minds on Wall Street” for being the first financial manager to exceed an income of $1 billion in a single year.
In 2013, Lampert became CEO of retail giant Sears Holdings, which included the Kmart and Kenmore banners. Lambert hoped to turn the struggling company around with financial injections from his investment company. But by 2018, Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy and announced the closure of its 142 Sears and Kmart locations.
In early 2019, Lampert was successful in keeping possession of Sears Holdings and its 450 stores, with a reported auction bid of more than $5 billion.
In 2003, Lampert made headlines when he was kidnapped from the parking lot of his Greenwich office. However, he persuaded his captors to set him free after two days.
The Lampert family is estimated to be worth $1 billion.
