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Ed Lampert loses his shirt on Citigroup

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Ed Lampert built his reputation as a big-time hedge fund manager. He then took control of Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) and bought K-Mart. That did not work out very well. Shares in Sears are down 25% this year and trade around their 52-week low.

The whole Sears thing is obviously embarrassing for someone who is used to making himself and his investors billions of dollars.

Lampert figured that since retail was not working out, he would try his hand at investing in banking. It seemed like a good idea. How much can go wrong with a big bank? Citigroup (NYSE: C)'s shares were under-performing the market in the middle of the year, so Lampert built up a stake of $1.3 billion, according to The New York Times. The shares are held by "RBS Partners, an affiliate of Mr. Lampert's ESL Investments."

Things have not gone well at Citi, so Mr. Lampert has lost about $471 million since late June.

Is there a lesson here? Probably nothing beyond the fact that smart people sometimes do stupid things.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Last updated: July 06, 2009: 04:40 AM

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