Eddie Lampert worst CEO of 2007?!

In case you missed it, Herb Greenberg picked Eddie Lampert (ESL Investments) as the worst CEO of 2007 here.  In his own article, he lists much more appropriate candidates but choose Eddie probably to make some more headlines and come across as a bit savvier than the rest of the crowd.  Frankly, I think Herb should be embarrassed.  By all accounts Sears has had a bad 6 months, with it’s stock getting cut in half from a high of nearly $200/share, and a 99% drop in profits in the most recent quarter…..wait did I say profits? Yes! And here’s what makes Herb’s pick such a bad attention getting joke:

Sears this year will turn a profit all 4 quarters, as well as generate cash (Herb couldn’t find a company that may actually lose money to be a candidate?)

• Sears unlike dozens of lenders & banks will not undergo the 10’s of thousands of layoffs announced by failed and struggling players in the housing & finance sector.  In fact, Sears & Kmart continue to hire in every store I’ve seen.
• Sears actually had a very solid first 1/2 of the year
• Sears continues to make improvements, but the results will take time

So some how despite many companies going under, others laying off 10’s of thousands, and others bleeding cash, Sears which is doing none of these things has the worst CEO. Oh wait there’s more, Eddie Lampert isn’t even the CEO!

Herb, do you really crave the spotlight that much, that you’d make such a stupid pick just to get people to talk about you more? I guess there’s no such thing as bad press when you write for an ad supported blog.