e, which increases his investment in Myer to around $132 million, representing a paper loss over his five-year tenure on the share register. Lew’s intentions remain unclear but this latest move could indicate that he thinks Myer is in better shape after several years of cutting costs, downsizing and restructuring. While he remains critical of the board and management of Myer, Lew may still think the department store group is a bargain at a market capitalisation of around $347 million. Afterall, Premier Investments, in which the Lew family has a controlling stake, has a market cap of around $4.7 billion and a share price of $29.64. Myer continues to deflect Lew’s criticism of its direction, limited retail experience at board level, and mass exodus of management experience in the last four years. The Myer board has maintained the support of institutional investors, thwarting Lew’s attempts to force changes after poor sales and earnings results – albeit distorted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Long relationship with Myer For Lew, the paper losses on his Myer shareholding are no doubt galling. His relationship with the department store group runs deep. At just 18 years of age, Lew started selling apparel to Myer after founding Voyager Solo. More significantly, Lew has been at the centre of every major event in Myer’s past four decades, starting with the Adelaide department store chain, John Martin. Myer acquired John Martin, bringing Lew on board as a shareholder and in 1983, he pumped $32 million into the then-struggling Myer Emporium. He joined the Myer board in 1985, the year Coles and Myer merged, and held a 10 per cent stake in the new conglomerate, which included Myer, Coles, Liquorland, Country Road, Target, and Kmart. Lew became chairman of Myer in 1991 and held the position for four years before being forced to quit the board over a share scheme that did not result in any regulatory sanctions or charges. The experience was a bitter one for Lew but, in part, explains his tenacious minority stake position in Country Road, which had been a Myer business for a period before it was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange and subsequently acquired by the South African Woolworths. In 2004, Lew triggered the events that led to the break up of Coles Myer and Myer being purchased by the Myer family and private equity firm TPG Newbridge Capital. Three years later, Lew sold his shareholding in the Coles Group to Wesfarmers, after initiating the takeover offer by private equity firm KKR, which Wesfarmers trumped. His next big move impacting on Myer was his purchase of a stake in David Jones, which was designed to torpedo a Myer merger plan with its upmarket rival. Instead of merging with Myer, David Jones was snapped up by the South African Woolworths and Lew cleared a handy profit on his short-lived DJs investment and his long held Country Road stake. Myer’s struggles after Lew’s chairmanship  Myer’s long-term struggle for growth and profitability arguably started when Lew lost his chairmanship and was forced off the Coles Myer board of directors. To achieve growth, Myer has tried a range of initiatives, including store network expansion, a tie up with UK retailer John Lewis, discount merchandise centres and even an electrical superstore format, Mega Mart. The initiatives have all caused more grief than gain and Myer’s share price today is not even 10 per cent of what it was when the private equity owners re-launched it on the ASX in 2009 at a market cap of around $2.5 billion. While Myer has floundered, Lew has acquired specialty apparel chains to create and build Premier Retail. On paper, Lew’s only loss-making investment has been the return in 2017 to the Myer share register. No doubt the loss has angered Lew and prompted a running battle with Myer directors and management on their performance. But for Lew, Myer is about more than money.