Cramer: Media Wrong on Eddie Lampert

Second, Lampert's investment in Kmart, which is what started the investment, is up 10 times since he started. Ten times! Who can be unhappy with that? Lie No. 5.

Has Sears done a great job in this period? Absolutely not. Have any of the major hard-line or soft-line retailers done a great job in this period? Definitely not. Is Lampert the only one singled out for ridicule and pillorying? I think yes.

It's also personal. Lampert's regarded as an iceman and a secretive character. First, the man was kidnapped; the kidnappers are in prison, for life. That would certainly change me (and it has in reality, ever since it happened, affected the way I do business.) Second, he responds to everyone on the Sears Holdings Web site. Why waste his time endlessly defending when he needs to help set the tone and recruit for the business, which isn't easy given the endless carping. Finally, for what it is worth, those who know and have known Eddie for more than 25 years, as I have, can't even recognize these characterizations. He's smart, funny, open and terrific. I know that's neither here nor there, but there isn't an element of this man's life that isn't open to scrutiny, and it just seems plain wrong.

This is not about buying Sears. Last week, the stock spiked nine points in a day and my discipline for ActionAlertsPlus is to sell some up nine, which is what I did, locking in a great gain.

But this stuff is just too wrong, too dissembling, to ignore any more.

Lampert just doesn't deserve this press. He doesn't deserve it after a lifetime of outperforming and doing better than just about any money manager on earth.

I rest my case.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints